This morning, our Chapel Leaders open our service with the recitation of the pledges, The Lord’s Prayer, O Canada and the Land Acknowledgement. Our first worship song was “One Way” by Joel Houston and Jonathon Douglass.
After leading a reading about how leaders demonstrate a servant’s heart, the Chapel Leaders introduced four different school scenarios with two possible outcomes for each. Students orally chose the outcome that reflected a servant’s heart.
Next, the Grade 3 classes presented their memory verse recitation. After three students introduced the verse taken from Isaiah 12:2 and gave some context for it, the two classes sang it beautifully!
This week, we also had a Wesley CRISP Kids video. It featured several students from Grade 6 sharing their thoughts about how we can practice showing a servant’s heart.
After leading the audience in singing “Everyday” by Hillsong, our Chapel Leaders introduced the guest speaker, Pastor Jake Wilson, aka “Captain” from Willow Springs Camp. From the outset, the students noticed Captain’s prop – a spade. He quickly launched into a story that took place on Father’s Day in 2008. After Sunday service that day, the Wilson family went home for a special lunch and an afternoon of boardgames. It was quickly interrupted by a request from a neighbour who needed help burying her two dogs that had recently passed away. Jake and his brother were recruited by their father to do this. It was a difficult task, especially in the heat. At the time, Jake was tempted to grumble and complain about the request as he did not see an immediate benefit of doing it. However, over time, God revealed that the request was not just to bury the dogs but to serve and reach out to this neighbour. Through God’s grace, the neighbour eventually gave her life to Jesus.
Captain then shared Jesus’s explanation about what it means to follow Him. He said that we must
- Deny yourself – stop from getting what we want
- Take up your cross – suffer to some extent for the sake of God’s plan
- Follow Christ – follow Jesus’s example
In his story about bury the two dogs, Jake and his brother gave up their personal time (that they wanted to use to play board games) to help their neighbour. They suffered through the hard labour and the heat, but they did this task for the sake of someone else, their neighbour, who eventually saw God’s love through their kindness and friendship. Captain explained that having a servant’s heart is the most accurate representation of Jesus on earth. By serving others, we are God’s light, in a dark world. Captain challenged the students to find someone who needs help and to help them with a humble heart, doing it for God’s glory. He then prayed, asking God to give us eyes to see those who are wandering in darkness and to show us ways to serve without expectation to get anything in return.
To conclude the service, the Chapel Leaders led the reading of our aspirational passage.
