hippie heaven.

Roncesvalles-- a neighbourhood on the west end of Toronto. My new home for 10 weeks. Fairtrade coffee shops, organic food, thrift stores, 75 different languages-- and many conversations with starving artists and film-directors (the neighbourhood consists basically of right-brained people). mmmmm...hippie heaven.

And also hmmmmm...the church I am living in also hosts a Healing Center, in which tarot cards and hypnosis are used. It's the first church to have a legalized same-sex marriage in North America and the only church to have a community service with the Muslim Church directly after 9/11 in North America (yes, I am living in a fairly well-known church. It shows up in the news. A lot.).

The theology is much more liberal than I am used to. Sometimes I wonder what happened to Christ here. The church has a phenomenal outreach to the poor (street peeps) and the outcast (gay community). The church has formed a phenomenal community-- people from all ages, socio-economic classes, ethnicities, and sexual orientations are in and out of here all the time. This church has so much of what a church MUST be. But...it seems to me like it is a humanisitic approach, as shown when in church the pastor says, "This house (the church) does not belong to me, to the United Church of Canada, to Toronto, or to the government-- this church belongs to you." I thought it belonged to God. Social justice without Christ...that means full reliance on humans. A scary thought. We haven't been doing that great at doing good since the Fall- I'm pretty sure we're not getting better.

Please pray for me as I lead 3 staff members and 330 youth throughout the summer in an environment that requires a lot of discerning....Soli Deo Gloria...