Devotional

Being Made Alive (don't be afraid, just believe)

I’ve often thought about the prayers that seem to go unanswered. Those ones that you’ve been praying for, for years. Time after time, asking God for healing, knowing that He’s able to intervene. Knowing that He’s able to change the course of your situation. Yet, sometimes it feels as though they go unheard.

I’ve had my fair share of prayers like that. Each time, in the midst of it, I wondered whether or not He would answer in the way I expected Him to. I had set out to pray to receive a miracle in my way and my timing, hoping that I would receive it quicker than Prime shipping. But as you know, that’s not often the way it works.

For some, I’ve seen where prayers were answered on the spot, and we praised God for it. For others, I saw miracles take place after years of crying out to God, and again, we praised Him for it. I’ve also seen and personally experienced times where prayers were left seemingly unanswered. In those times, as hard as it is, I’ve learned to thank God for it. We’re unsure of how God’s timing works but we know that ultimately, He knows far better than we do.

Psalm 27:14 tells us, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

We have a hope that rests in Jesus, and because of that, we know that in this life, even death is not the end!

So, I praise God for the miracles. I’ll praise God in the waiting. And I’ll praise God when my prayers seem to have gone unanswered. Through it all, I will trust in His timing and know that His ways are greater than my own.

Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
— Mark 5:36

“36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:36)


Join me on Sunday as we talk more about the miracle of being alive from the book of Mark!


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, MARCH 24 @ 10am

WAY MAKER
Alive

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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Easter Dinner (you're invited!)

As Easter approaches, I am reflecting on the things I love about this season. From the solemnity of Good Friday to the uncontainable joy of Easter Sunday, each moment carries significance and meaning.

Many of us gather with family and friends around a feast-filled table to celebrate Easter. Although traditions vary, at our house Easter dinner is not complete without braided Easter bread, which my kids help me make and reminds us of the eternal qualities of God in the Trinity. While the food is a highlight, it's not about the food, but about spending time with loved ones.

This year, we're excited to invite our church family and extended community to join us for Easter Dinner. We understand that Easter can be challenging for some who may not have friends or family to share it with. Whether you're new to Canada, Kitchener or following Jesus, we want to provide a welcoming space for everyone. So, we're setting the table with room for anyone who wants to join us for Easter Dinner, ensuring no one is left alone.

Easter Dinner will take place shortly after the conclusion of our Easter Sunday Service, in the fellowship hall. We’ll provide the main course, rolls and dessert, and you can sign up to bring potatoes, casserole or a salad!

Our heart is to ensure that no one who wants to celebrate in community is left behind. Please invite those who may be interested and sign up to come yourself. Register by Sunday, March 17th at freedomkw.com/events.

I can't wait to see you there!
Pastor Erin


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, MARCH 17 @ 10am

WAY MAKER
Forgiven
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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It's Time to Post (Children's Ministries Director)

Even though we knew it was coming, it's hard to believe that it's here. It's time to officially post the Children's Ministries Director job.

As you may know, Margaret will officially be resigning from her position at the beginning of June and focusing her attention on getting ready to launch as a Global Worker in Guatemala. (She hopes to leave Canada in August.) This will leave us with some big shoes to fill in kids ministry.

Our first step in finding a new CM Director is to "post" the position here at Freedom and find out if we might have someone in our church family who is interested and qualified. We will also be posting the position on our PAOC District website.

If you or someone you know might be interested, please send them my way. Questions or resumes can be sent to tracy@freedomkw.com.

We are praying and expecting that God has good plans for Margaret as she launches out and for us as we find a new staff member for Freedom.

Looking forward to what's next!

Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, MARCH 10 @ 10am

WAY MAKER
Clean
Erin Jamieson

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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Giving on Mission (welcome to the 2024 Missions Giving Plan!)

On Sunday, Pastor Erin will be taking a few moments to share our 2024 Missions Giving Plan with you. Living generous lives doesn't happen by accident. It happens when we are intentional with our resources, making everything available to God to use for His kingdom. It happens when we think of everything we have in this life as a gift to steward and we recognize who the true Owner is. This is true of all of our resources: our time, our talent and our finances.

Rob and I invite you to join our family as we make a financial plan for this coming year that demonstrates our commitment to stewarding our resources and stretches our faith in new ways. We continue to set aside our tithe first and ask God to show us how else we can support mission and ministry sacrificially. I'm not just giving lip service when I tell you that we love to do this because of the freedom and blessing we find in generosity. We want to grow in this area of discipleship and we encourage you to make this a part of what's next for you, too!

The button below will take you to our church's plan to give to missions this year. Go ahead and click it and learn more about how to join us in giving over and above this year.

Can't wait to get started,
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, MARCH 3 @ 10am

WAY MAKER
Free
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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He is Building a Palace (living stones and home)

I was reminded of this quote from CS Lewis' Mere Christianity recently and wanted to share it with you. It encourages me that God is actively at work in my life, even when things are not as I expected, even when they are difficult. We are living stones, being built into a spiritual house; God is making His home in us a we obey what Jesus has taught us. What an honour, and a relief... and a challenge to allow Him to work in me.

I pray this parable speaks to you this week!
Pastor Tracy

__________________________________

"I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
— 1 Peter 2:5
Jesus replied, ’Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’
— John 14:23

THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25 @ 10am

THE BIBLE SAYS WHUT? GENESIS EDITION
Is Jesus in Genesis?
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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More About Grapevines (guest writer: Joel Bromley)

In last week's devotional, I shared some thoughts from my few days in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I had quite a few responses to it and wanted to share this one from Joel Bromley, who read what I had written and was reminded of God's faithfulness over generations. I share his email with permission and know you will be encouraged by it like I was. Enjoy!

__________________________________

Hey Pastor Tracy,

It’s not NOTL, but these pictures are from the Beamsville/Grimsby area. The backdrop of these photos look like any other parcel of land in that area, covered in grapevines and trellis’.

You’d drive past it and not think a thing. In the winter (it might even have been February when these pictures were taken) it’s even more non-descript and lonely feeling there.

I researched this dirt and saw it not for what it was (non descript parcel of land like every other one beside it) and we went there for what it means and for what it used to be in our family line and the direction our family is going in and the part that the people who settled here have played unknowingly.

To anyone else it’s nothing, not worth more than whatever the value of the land or crops might be worth, but to our family, it’s part of our story and a bit of a bridge between the God fearing relatives that came to Canada after the American Revolutionary War and settled in Beamsville and where our family currently stands spiritually.

So, while it looks a certain way, to me, it shows the work of God.

Hundreds of years ago when these family members settled in America, some escaping from Religious persecution, and then after losing in the Revolutionary War for the north and settling in Niagara Region, God was working. These family members, when retreating to this land, clearing it and working it, never knew the path their great, great, great, great, great, great (I think it’s 6 greats but I’d have to check again) granddaughter and her family would be living for the Lord and praying that for generations to come this would continue to be true.

I don’t know who, if anyone, between that time and the present, followed Jesus (and we’re nothing great). But God. Whoo! Over hundreds of years, God was doing something that our current family is part of for as long as He lets us.

What is He doing on those properties? I don’t know. But He’s alive and active in the story that’s brought us to where we are!

Joel


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18 @ 10am

THE BIBLE SAYS WHUT? GENESIS EDITION
Do Words Have Power?
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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Is It Still February? (deep work in quiet seasons)

This week, I was in Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) for some meetings. Everyone who heard I was going there said something like, "Oh, that's nice!" Why? Because if you've ever been, you know it's beautiful and charming. My response was something like, "Theoretically, yes, but it is February after all." In other words, none of NOTL's famous gardens will be in bloom, many of the shops are closed for the season, and we don't even have a layer of snow to turn it into a real-life snow globe. February might be the worst possible month to be in NOTL.

But as I turned off the highway and made my way toward the town, and as I checked into my hotel and then walked for a few minutes up the main street to find a coffee, something else began to occur to me.

I have been reading This Too Shall Last, a book about how to find God's grace and the presence of Jesus in suffering that persists in preparation for our Sunday Night Conversation about Medical Assistance in Dying (watch for that in April). I'm sure the author's words were why I started seeing the lifeless trees and near-empty main street as something else. I saw what they were going to be. In a few months, this place will look completely different. The trees and gardens aren't dead; they are dormant, waiting for the season to change.

February isn't just a month to endure on the way to May. In some ways, it might be. But in other ways, its quietness and even darkness give space for a deep work.

I trust you're following this metaphor with me. There is no promise in scripture that any struggle, suffering or dark night of the soul will be over next week, month, year or even in this lifetime. But that doesn't mean that there isn't beautiful work being done in your life. If your life feels like you've been stuck in February for too long, breathe deeply. He's with you. I don't know why life twists and turns like it does, why it seems to stall out or rush by too fast, but I know for certain that God is present in each breath.

I hope that encourages you in some small way today. I'm looking forward to spring, but I appreciated my time in Niagara-on-the-Lake as well. I'm praying that is true of my heart and yours as well.

Pastor Tracy

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
— 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11 @ 10am

THE BIBLE SAYS WHUT? GENESIS EDITION
Can You Negotiate With God?
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

The Bible Says Whut?! (we're in Genesis this time!)

It's time for the fifth installment of our Bible Says Whut? series! Why this again? Because there is so much to explore in scripture and when we're reading the Word we often have questions.

Do you feel confident that you can read the Bible and understand what you're reading? Are you tempted to skip over the passages that are uncomfortable or confusing? You're not alone. The heart behind this series is to remind every believer that the Bible is amazing and can be explored by anyone. Theological degrees are helpful but not a prerequisite for understanding the Word. There are resources that can help us dig through challenging passages and learn to know God more and more every day through His Word. Very, very exciting stuff.

So, if you're intimidated or don't know where to start, let me recommend Priscilla Shirer's "5 Ps of Bible Study." Watch the video below and click on the link for a downloadable PDF that you can keep in your Bible. The next time you're reading a passage that you don't understand, pull out the 5 Ps and see how scripture is opened up to you. It can definitely handle your questions.

In the meantime, get ready for Sunday... we're starting in Genesis 6 with the "sons of God", "daughters of men" and "the Nephilim." I can't wait!

See you then,
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4 @ 10am

THE BIBLE SAYS WHUT? GENESIS EDITION
Does God Have Regrets?
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

Ready to Share How Jesus Has Changed Your Life? (learn how on Sunday!)

We have a really special opportunity available on Sunday night and want to strongly encourage you to be a part of it. Go ahead and watch this 90-second video and then click the link to let us know that you can attend Life Shared on Sunday at 6pm. (Note: We will do all three parts of the series in one session, not over three weeks.)

Taking the fear and mystery out of sharing your faith will be worth your time!

See you on Sunday,
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 28 @ 10am

THIS IS THE WAY
Outside the Four Walls

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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The Third Space (Groups start again next week)

I recently heard a phrase I'd never heard before but immediately connected with. It's "a third place" or "a third space." According to a very helpful article I Googled, "A third place is a familiar public spot where you regularly connect with others known and unknown, over a shared interest or activity." Your first space is home, and your second is work but, especially in a post-pandemic time, people are realizing how important third spaces are.

I was excited when I heard this phrase on a podcast because without being told, I already knew that I had access to the best third space. On Sunday, Pastor Erin is going to be sharing the next message in our "This is the Way" series. This month our series topics have been "He is First" and "I Am Second." Next up, "We are the Third Space."

Church, we already have what the human heart is longing for - community that makes a difference in our lives where people know our names and are doing life with us. And, we have the best reason to create and nurture this space: Jesus. (Since, of course, He's why we gather!)

I won't scoop Pastor Erin's message, but I will point you to one of the most life-giving third spaces that I know of - Groups. New groups start next week and they provide such an excellent third space. They are a place to gather around our shared desire to know Jesus more, connect with others and be known by them. It is always worth the time you invest.

All the information is on our website but here are this season's Groups in a nutshell:

  • Financially Thriving: Biblical Principles for Your Finances - Tuesdays - starts January 30

  • Life Group with the Parks - Wednesdays - resumes January 31

  • Sunday Debrief - Wednesdays - starts January 31

  • Foreign to Familiar - Wednesdays - starts in February

  • Alpha - Wednesdays - starts January 31

  • Women's Prayer Connection - Mondays once/month

  • Men of Freedom - Saturdays once/month

See you in the third space!
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 21 @ 10am

THIS IS THE WAY
We Are the Third Space
Erin Jamieson

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

For Those Who Wonder (have you thought about Alpha?)

The people in your life who are far from God generally fall into one of two categories: those who have never heard about Jesus or been to church and those who grew up in church and walked away from it at some point. We believe that both groups need to hear about the life-transforming power of a relationship with Jesus but they might come with different questions or even baggage from their experience with the church or Christians.

Often we think that the first group isn't interested in Christianity and the second have given up on it for good. But that is not necessarily the case, not by a long shot. We believe that following Christ is for everyone and that each person is called to know Him and needs to know Him. We believe He is the only way to eternal life and that message is for every one of our friends, neighbours, family members, and co-workers. If that's true, than we can expect that the Holy Spirit is having a conversation with each person and we are called to join in that conversation in whatever way we can.

This is why we love the Alpha Course. It doesn't matter what a person's background is, what their current beliefs about Jesus are or what experiences they've had with the church. It simply introduces them to Jesus and explores faith in Jesus in an honest and open way.

Alpha starts up again on January 31st. I want to encourage you to invite someone who needs to be introduced or re-introduced to Jesus. Who do you know who you think the Holy Spirit might be making ready to learn or be reacquainted with Him? Pray for them and take the step to invite them to Alpha. (We even have invitation cards available - look for them on Sunday! - and a digital invitation you can download at freedomkw.com/alpha.)

Let's introduce the people in our lives to Jesus this year! We're praying with you as you prayerfully consider who you will invite.

Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 @ 10am

THIS IS THE WAY
I Am Second
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

This is the Way (new year, new series)

I believe that we were made for new beginnings. We read all through scripture that the story of humanity is that of needing and longing to be made new. And, of course, the path to new life through Christ. Perhaps that's why we look to new seasons and new years to help us reset and make positive changes in our lives. It's part of the longing of the human condition.

This week I cleaned out my closet, set up a new morning routine and organized my notes in a new app. Classic New Year's stuff. You likely have a little list of your own. Maybe you have made some resolutions or set some goals for January to help break some habits or establish new ones.

But I know that the best use of the energy that this new year brings is not a more efficient task list. It's inviting the Holy Spirit to give me new vision and to strengthen me as I sharpen my focus on the things that truly matter. I'm asking for creativity and faithfulness in my spiritual disciplines. These are the fresh things I truly need this new year.

As you breathe in a new season and all of the renewed energy that comes with that, I encourage you to lean into Jesus and, "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." (Matthew 6:33 NLT)

In our new series, "This is the Way," we're going to talk about the foundations of what it means to follow Jesus. I pray it will be a great companion for what the Lord is doing in your heart in the first weeks of this new year. And, if you know someone who is curious about faith, invite them to join you on Sunday and to Alpha which starts on January 31st.

Happy New Year!
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 7 @ 10am

THIS IS THE WAY
You Are First
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

It's Time to Testify! (also, what day is it?)

Does anyone know what day it is?

I love this week between Christmas and New Year's Day. It has a pace all its own. And, if you're like me, as you rest and reset, you reflect on the past year and start to wonder what's next in 2024.

This week's challenge is very simple: testify. Think about how God has met you, spoken to you, healed you or provided for you in 2023 and share it. Maybe it's as simple as a journal entry between you and the Lord, maybe it's a Facebook post or a text message to a friend. And, on Sunday you will have a chance to share that testimony with your church family during our 5th Sunday service. (If you won't be here, feel free to email me and I will share it on your behalf.)

He's been good. He is faithful. Let's share some good news about Him!

See you on Sunday,
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

5th SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31 @ 10am

WAITING FOR JESUS
Lessons from 2023
Tracy Dunham, Erin Jamieson, Margaret Pfeiffer

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

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Advent Meditations: Love (the fourth week of Advent)

This week's Advent devotional from Practicing the Way reflects on the love we have been given in Jesus.

You can download a PDF of all of these devotionals and share them with your family, print them for yourself or save them to read on your phone.

Pastor Tracy

_____________________________

Read

"Prepare the way for the LORD, make straight paths for him." Isaiah 40:3

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us." 1 John 4:10

"All who heard it were amazed." Luke 2:18

"No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known." John 1:18

From the filling of Elizabeth and Mary’s wombs, to the messages of peace and proclamation that came with them, Advent is about one crucial thing: God pursuing us. We are, every one of us, Elizabeth’s empty womb. Burdened by our tiny love, in the darkness, desperate for divine infilling. The gospel isn’t that an empty womb can bring itself into life, but that Life indeed brings itself to it. Or as the Apostle John eloquently puts it, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” (1 John 4v10)

God promises himself, gives himself, and finishes what he started. All he asks for in return is our yes. That’s what all our feeling, anticipating, listening, and pondering this month has been about, the preparation of our hearts for the magnificent inbreaking of Christ who is always moving toward us in deeper and deeper waves.

It’s in that spirit that Advent is as alive today as it was then. Because God’s love is continually being born in us as we learn day by day to receive him now in our souls just as humanity did then. We are now ourselves the inn, singing to our deepest places with carolers of history past, “Prepare him room!” as Christ himself stands knocking on the door, longing to come and be with us (Rev 3:19-20). This is the beginning of all communion, simply taking time to receive this kind of love into our minds, hearts, and bodies. It doesn’t happen by accident, but by intentionally turning toward this God, the one who goes to any length to have us and who thinks good thoughts about us long before we think about him.

Advent is about living that into our lives, then turning it toward the world, as God did. We discover this Advent love when we un-noise our lives, enter into the stillness of God’s peace, and practice the joy of living into a reality bigger than we can feel or understand. Then, this revolution of love and peace bursts out of us with nuclear light amidst the barrenness of our own communities and spaces of living.

In Christ, God’s pursuing love sows pursuing love in us. It’s because of this letting-in of Love into our darkness, and our hoping and trusting in his desire to finish what he started, that we can obliterate divine insecurity and truly receive and respond with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14) Hallelujah!

Reflect

Receiving God’s love isn’t ultimately an intellectual exercise, but an experiential one. This week, as we live into Christmas, consider taking five minutes a day to simply receive God’s love for you. The best time for this is in the morning, before you pick up your phone or begin your day. You might like to sit in a comfortable place with your palms facing up, and pray a simple prayer like ‘Father, I receive your love for me into my mind, my heart, and my body.’ Then, as your mind drifts here and there, repeat the prayer and allow it to soak you through. Remember that God says he is loving, patient, kind, gentle, and protecting; allow yourself to just receive that into your deepest place. You may feel something or you may not, that’s okay. The most important thing is making yourself available to receive. Allow God to do the rest.


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24 @ 10am

WAITING FOR JESUS
Waiting for Love
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

Advent Meditations: Joy (the third week of Advent)

This week's Advent devotional from Practicing the Way reflects on the joy we have been given in Jesus.

You can download a PDF of all of these devotionals and share them with your family, print them for yourself or save them to read on your phone.

Pastor Tracy

_____________________________

Read Luke 1:26-38, 2:19

"I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way." Luke 7:27

"You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus." Luke 1:31

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:19

It’s not only for peace that the Spirit visits our listening, but for the promise. All this barrenness, anticipation, hope, and the word of peace in the story of Advent is drawing us toward one profound and cosmos-shaping revelation: Christ is arriving to us.

But it’s no small thing that he arrives himself as a seed, sown into the darkness of our lives, carried in the womb of humanity. God’s beatific vision is one that grows up in our midst, as ordinary and common as any of the rest of us. Christ is the same with you and I today.

We, too, are invited to hold Christ and his promises within us, gestating in the midst of our daily living as hidden miracles, anticipating their full birth in God’s timing. That’s the great beauty of Advent — God has come to us and is in our midst. Like Mary, we’re invited to “ponder these things in our hearts” as we carry the presence of Christ in each season and in every place of need. Because if we’re living listening lives, we’ll hear God saying to us in many little ways that we too will “conceive and give birth” (Luke 1v31). Through Scripture, a visit of God’s joy to the heart, a passing comment in a conversation with a friend, or through a line in a book or song, God speaks to our everyday needs and longings.

All these little messengers are meant to stir anticipation. To alert us and begin to open us up. Each one awakens us to a bigger picture, the expectation of change, the arriving presence within us of his love. And it’s through this practice of holding God’s promises within us, and living into them, that true spiritual joy springs up. Because joy is living in the delight of what God is going to do, as much as what he already is. It’s prophetic like that. That kind of joy, like God’s peace, is transcendent because it can live untouched by the taunts and terminalities of this world. It’s not based on what we experience today, but on who God is and what he has said he will do.

Be the biblical promises of Christ’s ultimate victory or his own personal word to us today, by calling them to memory and holding them within our hearts, we can more fully live in the joy that God is and will arrive to us. Yes, Christ is coming, but in Mary’s story we discover that he’s also already here. Sown in our midst, growing up within us, pouring out his peace and love.

Reflect

Reflecting on recent times, what little messengers has God sent to you that are a source of joy? Consider taking some time this week to ponder God’s promises, be they biblical or personal, and to “ponder them in your heart.” You might like to write them down, journal about them, or share them with a friend as a way of remembering.

You might like to sit with the scripture, “On that day you will realize ... I am in you” (John 14:20), and allow the joy of Christ’s presence in your very soul to fill your daily living.


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17 @ 10am

WAITING FOR JESUS
Waiting for Joy
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

Advent Meditations: Peace (the second week of Advent)

This week's Advent devotional from Practicing the Way reflects on the peace we have been given in Jesus.

You can download a PDF of all of these devotionals and share them with your family, print them for yourself or save them to read on your phone.

Pastor Tracy

PS - for you keen observer, the order of themes (hope, peace, joy, love) often changes from church to church. Our Advent series, "Waiting for Jesus" is using the order hope, love, joy, peace this year so they don't line up perfectly with these devotionals. If you noticed, good eye!

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Read Luke 1:7-25

"A voice of one calling in the wilderness." Luke 3:4

"Do not be afraid." Luke 1:13

"Do not be afraid ... you have found favor with God." Luke 1:30

There’s a quietness that comes to us when we take a moment to feel the barrenness in our lives. We discover our inner wilderness. A wilderness that, as it turns out, becomes the very womb of our hearing the voice of the Spirit.

That seems to be where Luke wants to take us in his advent story because he immediately moves us from Elizabeth’s barrenness to Zechariah’s encounter with the angel of God in the temple. It’s there during Zechariah’s time of burning incense — a type of prayer — that the angel visits him with good news. He’s alone, Zechariah’s attention is toward God, and finally, he’s quiet enough to listen to the voice calling in his wilderness.

Feeling our own barrenness does that, anticipation does that. It increases our faith, makes room for God to speak, sharpens our spiritual ears. Because God isn’t so interested in competing with the noise of our world. And it is noisy. Now more than ever, it’s possible to live from wake to sleep again without ever being quiet enough to feel the depths of us where God lives. We can become foreigners to ourselves, unwittingly crowding God out.

Like Zechariah, we need to turn toward our own inner temple, toward prayerful silence, solitude, and stillness, and not toward the quick satisfactions of our noisy world, that we might hear the Spirit speaking to our aches. And how does the voice of God arrive to us? The same way it did to Zechariah, with the word of peace; “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1v13).

When we un-noise our life and build the place of prayer within us, peace becomes a continual reality. We no longer live at the mercy of circumstance but can experience firsthand what Jesus meant when he said, “the kingdom of heaven is within you” (Luke 17v21), experiencing the peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

To anticipate the arriving Christ, we must make room, draw ourselves away, and listen. When we do, we inherit Advent peace, and as we’re about to see, it’s in this very place of prayerful listening that the seed of our promise is about to be planted within us.

Reflect

Sitting in the quiet and in your place of greatest need, take a minute to still yourself and invite the Spirit to speak a word of peace to you.

This week, consider holding Psalm 46v10, “Be still, and know that I am God,” in your heart. When anxiety, lowness, distraction, or fear beckon, recall the passage in your heart, creating an inner room for the King of Peace to dwell.

The angel of the Lord spoke to Zechariah when he was burning the incense, which is a biblical image for prayer. If you don’t already, try practicing moments of intentional silence, solitude, and stillness each day as a way of making yourself available to the voice of the Spirit to speak.


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10 @ 10am

WAITING FOR JESUS
Waiting for Love
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

Advent Meditations: Hope

The season of Advent begins on Sunday. It is a beautiful season of waiting, anticipating, and awakening. We reflect on how the Israelites waited for the Messiah and how we also wait for His second coming.

To pull our minds and hearts to the gift of the coming of Jesus, I will be sharing an Advent devotional or meditation each week from Practicing the Way. This week, we begin with reflecting on the hope we have been given in Jesus.

You can download a PDF of all of these devotionals and share them with your family, print them for yourself or save them to read on your phone.

Pastor Tracy

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Read Luke 1:5-7

"The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God." Mark 1:1

"Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive." Luke 1:6-7

Before every dawn, there is deep night. Between each breath, a quiet and trusting suspension. Before the earth drinks the rain, it travels in silence from the clouds that send it. Every good arrival is preceded by a waiting, a suspension, a liminal moment.

So it is with hope. It must begin with awakening. With a felt awareness of what isn’t and what can’t be. We only need hope when the moment seems bleak, when it looks as though life is unchangeable, on a path toward greater pain, grief, or loss.

That loss may be in the dreams we once had for ourselves or someone we’ve lost. It may be in the physical or mental healing we’ve been seeking without respite or the deep loneliness we feel. It may even be our sense of the absence of God, our inability to love him like we long to, our lack of spiritual vitality.

It’s important to feel all that. To truly know that neither we, nor this world, can fix ourselves. Because without an admission of our little or large terminalities, we’ll have no room for the miracle of hope.

Luke begins the story of Advent right here, with a barren woman named Elizabeth. He tells us she’s a true believer, righteous, blameless even, but lacking in what was likely her very greatest longing — a child. Luke wants us to remember that healing starts in our pain, in our darkness. But also that to live in the spirit of Advent is to anticipate God in the midst of it.

Hopelessness beckons the Miracle. Touching our longings honestly, and allowing ourselves to feel them, is the true beginning of hope. It necessitates it. In the midst of our great need arises the first in-breaking light of incredible news. Christ is soon arriving.

Reflect

What is your most vulnerable grief or hope this Advent season? If you like, take a moment to open this longing up to God and sit with him in it. You could journal your feelings, draw a picture that illustrates them, or sit in deep silence with the Spirit, feeling them and directing them toward the loving gaze of God.

This week, carry something with you that signifies your grief or hope. Holding it before God, beckoning the miracle.


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3 @ 10am

WAITING FOR JESUS
Waiting for Hope
Erin Jamieson

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

The Simplicity of God's Will (rejoice, pray, give thanks)

Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Some of you are keenly aware of this and have even taken time off work to watch football! This means that tomorrow is Black Friday... and then there is Cyber Monday... and basically we're on the fast track to Christmas.

These next few weeks can feel like A LOT so I wanted to share a simple word of encouragement with you today. God has a plan for every day this season (and beyond, of course) and He's already let you know what His will for your life is. It's stated with simplicity in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

As we step into the seasons of Advent and Christmas and launch into a new year, keep these verses close to your heart. Rejoice, pray and be thankful and you will be right in the middle of the will of God. It won't always be easy, but you can choose to keep yourself focused on Christ as we get ready to celebrate His incarnation.

Rejoicing, praying and grateful with you,
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26 @ 10am

THE PRESENCE OF GOD
We Are The Temple
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

On Mission (working together here and around the world)

For the past several weeks, one of my least favourite ministry tasks has been going on behind the scenes at Freedom... we've been working on the 2024 budget. We have a team that does great work with this each year but of course, as Lead Pastor, I still need to spend quite a bit of time just looking at it, thinking about it, and trying to be sure we haven't missed anything or made any mistakes. It's an absolutely necessary process but I wouldn't call it the highlight of my year!

We will be working on the general operating budget until late in 2023 but it's not the only budget that we work on in the fall. This is also the time of year that the Missions Committee, Finance Committee and Board consider our missions giving for the coming year. What is God asking us to do in the new year? Do our missions partners still align with our core values? How can we commit to missions giving in a thoughtful and also faith-filled way?

2024 will be a special year for us in Missions. We will be launching our own Miss Margaret as a full-time Global Worker in Guatemala! We've known this for more than a year and the time has come for us to make some financial commitments to her that will reach into the next two years. It's been extremely exciting for us as we've worked on the 2024 and some of the 2025 missions budget... a lot more fun than budgeting for office supplies! And, not to leave you in suspense, but you will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.

We believe in the mission God has given us as a church. We believe in making an impact here in Kitchener and in supporting those who are sent out from here to engage the world for Christ in other countries and contexts. Our missions giving budget is an expression of faith and obedience to what we believe God is calling us to do. It depends on each member of Freedom asking themselves, what is God asking me to do to support His mission through my local church?

As we get toward the end of this year, we are doing well in our General Fund and also well behind our target for missions giving year-to-date. (63%, $13,765 of our $22,000 goal.) This is an unusual circumstance for Freedom. At the end of the year, we will fulfill our commitments to our missions partners (for details, go to freedomkw.com/missions) and any shortfall in the Missions Fund will be covered by the General Fund.

The economy has been tough this year. So many people are worried, uncertain or struggling in their financial lives. That's reality to be sure. And still, as the people of God, we are called to trust Him in and with everything. As He cares for us, would you join Rob and me as we pray about what God would have us do to support the spreading of the Gospel in Kitchener, Canada, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Cambodia?

As you know my heart, you know this is not about guilt or obligation. This is simply an invitation to help us meet a need and believe in how God might stretch us for the global mission this year, into 2024 and beyond!

A few practical items:

  1. You can meet our missions partners and learn more about all of this on our website: freedomkw.com/missions.

  2. You can learn how to designate to our Missions Fund on our website: freedomkw.com/give

  3. You can hear from our Global Worker in Ethiopia, Jeremy Feller, this Sunday morning in service! Join us in person or online at 10am.

Finally, let me say thank you. Your generous giving to our General Fund has been unprecedented this year. Your response to meeting practical needs in our community (gift cards for seniors, food pantry donations, furniture and household items for a family new to Canada...) is inspiring and beautiful. God is using us, church. Let's keep pressing into lives of generosity!

Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19 @ 10am

THE PRESENCE OF GOD
We Have Seen His Glory
Tracy Dunham

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.

About Tarrying (time in His presence)

The older folks in church used to use a certain word to describe spending time in God's presence. If there was a time of prayer around the altar, especially on a Sunday night or during a camp service, it was said that people were "tarrying".

To tarry means to "stay longer than intended" or to "delay leaving a place". What an appropriate word to describe waiting in God's presence.

Have you ever tarried? Have you had the opportunity to set everything else aside and delay leaving a time of prayer or worship? Have you had the chance to do that lately?

The writer(s) of Psalm 42 seemed to be describing what it's like to have experienced God's presence and know how soul-filling it is, that when you're in His presence, it's like quenching a desperate thirst.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" (Psalm 42:1-2)

I wonder if we overestimate our own power and underestimate the effectiveness of being filled freshly with the Holy Spirit, of tarrying in His presence so that our souls can be refreshed and we can fully access all that we need for life and godliness as we get to know the Lord more intimately? (see 2 Peter 1:3)

I'll be the first to admit that there seem to always be pressures on our limited time and energy. But still, I can't say more emphatically how the choice to find a quiet place with Him will always be the best thing and the most valuable time you can spend.

To that end, I'd like to invite you to Deep Roots on Sunday night. It's a quiet time of worship followed by a directed time of prayer. It looks a little different each month as we gather, but it always has the same effect - time set apart to simply be in the presence of God. We start at 6:30 and would love to have you join us for an hour or so.

Often on Sunday evenings (especially as it gets colder and darker!) it can be hard to think about driving back to the church for this time. But in all the years we've been doing Deep Roots, I have never left and wished I'd spent the hour in any other way. Not once.

Whether it's Deep Roots or some other time that you are able to get alone and spend time with the Lord, receive today's email as a reminder that when you come near to God, He will come near to you. (James 4:8) It's worth tarrying.

See you on Sunday,
Pastor Tracy


THIS SUNDAY

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12 @ 10am

THE PRESENCE OF GOD
Even More Undignified
Erin Jamieson

Join us for our IN-PERSON SERVICES OR
LIVESTREAM on Sunday!

10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)

Follow along with the message on YouVersion.