12. SEPTEMBRĪ KAPU SVĒTKU DIEVKALPOJUMS
11:00 am YORK CEMETERY LIVE-STREAMED MEMORIAL SERVICE

12. septembrī Toronto latviešu draudžu kapu svētki virtuāli no York kapličas.

https://mountpleasantgroup.permavita.com/siteContent/video.html?p=GiwaHR4Bfz01cXdAQlh0BA

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Worship service at Saulaine on August 15

Theme: "Our and their Father. Tolerance."

led by pastor Ģirts Grietiņš.

August 1 church service.

The theme: "The Word of God grows."

Worship service July 25

"Come and see!"

July 18 worship service at Saulaine

For those who cannot attend Saulaine, we invite you to watch prerecorded Svētbrīdis.

July 11

Prayer as openness

The Gospel for Latvians

Commemorating the deportations of June 14th

June 6 church service Approaching the Mystery

PENTECOST WORSHIP SERVICE

May 23 WORSHIP IN BOTH LANGUAGES WITH PASTORS ĢIRTS GRIETIŅŠ AND DAG DEMANDT

May 16. Worship. ASCENSION DAY

Happy Mother’s Day!

Rembering Kurland Front (Kruzemes cietoksna piemiņai)

May 2nd Zoom Worship Service

White Tablecloth Day and

Day of the Restoration of Latvian Independence.

Happy Earth Day!

Pastors Dag and Ģirts have prepared this short Earth Day video
(Reflections, prayer and song). Enjoy!

April 4, Sunday, EASTER MORNING WORSHIP

Good Friday Worship service:

Thursday, April 1, 6:00 pm – MAUNDAY THURSDAY WORSHIP with Communion.

March 21 "ZOOM" Service led by pastor Ģirts Grietins and Dag Demandt

"The Northern Maiden"

Zoom Worship Service Feb 21.

Remembering those lost to fire in Toronto

Organ music performed by Rev. Dr. Anita Gaide

LATVIEŠU ĒRĢELNIEKU ĢILDES ĀMERIKĀ DEVUMS

ASH WEDNESDAY WORSHIP
with Communion on February 17, 6 pm
(LIVE-STREAMED to YOUTUBE)

Worship service on February 7 praying for the victims of the fire in Toronto:

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Rev 21:4

Let us pray and support the victims of the fire in Toronto: Jana Jansons, Kai Jansons, Amanda Freimanis and Matthew Zdybal as well as survivors Arija Celeste Jansons who lost her son, Jade Jacobis and their families.

Fundraiser for Arija Jansons

(Svetbridis for this Sunday was recorded before the sad news, but it shows Jesus friendly approach to everyone)

With our deepest sorrow we inform you of the passing of

Aina Avotins

Aina Avotins was born on June 27, 1926 and passed away on January 1, 2021

(more information about her life and service in Latvian: https://www.stjohnslatvian.ca/latviesu/sakums)

Funeral Service will be held on January 9, 2021 at 10:30 am.

You can watch the recording of the funeral here:

Epiphany Worship (Dean emer. Ivars Gaide, rev. dr. Anita Gaide)

Blessed New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Watch our Christmas Family Worship Service:

In Christmas Jesus comes to us as a child.

What are the questions we ask our God as his children and what questions Jesus asks us?

3. Adventa dievkalpojums / 3rd Advent service - 13 dec 2020 live

Celebrating prāv. emer. Ilze Kuplēns-Ewart

Service from St. John's

Let us pray and celebrate Advent:

Due to the current situation with the Covid pandemic, The Church Council has decided to suspend In-Person Worship. Let us enjoy our video services.

Now you can see our Church service from different angles (thanks to Beate Augustane and Davis Maksins)

Our Latvian worship service from Harvest festival in church.

Enjoy!

We are thankful to everyone who joined our worship service in Saulaine:

Worship service for this Sunday is from Kristus Darzs:

Worship in Latvian and English about Miracles

Worship in Latvian

Join our Sunday Worship in Latvian and English:

Let us worship, reflect and pray (in Latvian):

Commemorating June 1941 deportations:

Introduction to Apologetics.

The Problem of Evil. (In Latvian)

Pentecost Worship services online

Here you can see Pentecost reflection and prayer from pastor Grietins in Latvian:

You are also invited to join our online worhsip services with LELBĀL and St. Andrews in Latvian.

(For more information see the Latvian homepage https://www.stjohnslatvian.ca/latviesu/sakums)

Listen to the second installment of pastor Girts Grietins podcast about Apologetics. How do we find our way among different religions and beliefs?

Introduction to Christian Apologetics (in English)

The New Name

(reflections on the Book of Revelation, in Latvian)

Have a blessed Easter !

Holly Week meditation with pastor Ģirts Grietiņš.

Let us join Palm Sunday's video worship service presented by pastors and musicians of Canada.

Take a look at this Sunday's new video

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You are welcome to listen to pastor Ģirts Grietiņš audio reading from C.S. Lewis "Mere Christianity" (in Latvian).

More...

St. John's Latvian Lutheran Cross

View our Photo Gallery.

Do you miss church services? Do you want to see familiar faces, enjoy the camaraderie of friends, keep in touch with current church issues? Why not zoom to St. John's spirituality and faith discussion group in English on Sundays?

What is it? It is more than a forum for bandying Christian challenges about. We enjoy a social half hour and switch to discussing church news and sharing details of upcoming events, developments at Kristus Darzs, Saulaine, and the Padome.

Our discussion format has volunteers taking turns reading aloud from the selected passage. Then anyone who wishes may comment or ask questions. No one is required or challenged to speak. We are grateful to Pastor Grietiņš for his guidance, authoritative and gentle. The rest of us are all beginners, learning together. It is a safe and welcoming place, and we love having new members join. We have participants from both congregations and guests.

We find that the group goes some distance toward filling the gap opened by this severe lockdown. Do join us for a virtual cup of coffee and a chat on Sundays. Technical support is available from Laura Johnson for anyone needing help accessing through Zoom. To join write to larryandinta@gmail.com

**Everyone is invited to join our Zoom Bible discussion group on Sundays. To participate please write to Larry Gifford larryandinta@gmail.com**

Good Friday reflection by pastor Ģirts Grietins

Christian apologist and pastor Timothy Keller talks about “costly forgiveness”.

Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t God just forgive us? This is what many ask, but now we can see that no one “just” forgives,

if the evil is serious. Forgiveness means bearing the cost instead of making the wrongdoer do it, so you can reach out in love to

seek your enemy’s renewal and change.

Forgiveness means absorbing the debt of the sin yourself. Everyone who forgives great evil goes through a death into

resurrection, and experiences nails, blood, sweat, and tears.

Should it surprise us, then, that when God determined to forgive us rather than punish us for all the ways we have wronged him

and one another, that he went to the Cross in the person of Jesus Christ and died there? As German theologian Dietrich

Bonhoeffer says, everyone who forgives someone bears the other ’s sins.

On the Cross we see God doing visibly and cosmically what every human being must do to forgive someone, though on an

infinitely greater scale. Human forgiveness works this way because we unavoidably reflect the image of our Creator. That is why

we should not be surprised that if we sense that the only way to triumph over evil is to go through the suffering of forgiveness,

that this would be far more true of God, whose just passion to defeat evil and loving desire to forgive others are both infinitely

greater than ours.

It is crucial at this point to remember that the Christian faith has always understood that Jesus Christ is God. God did not, then,

inflict pain on someone else, but rather on the Cross absorbed the pain, violence, and evil of the world into himself. Therefore

the God of the Bible is not like the primitive deities who demanded our blood for their wrath to be appeased. Rather, this is a God

who becomes human and offers his own lifeblood in order to honor moral justice and merciful love so that someday he can

destroy all evil without destroying us.

That is why He has died for us.

News

St. John's needs a new roof!

You have the opportunity to purchase select paintings from St. John's inventory of art and support the roof fund. Paintings and prices can be viewed on the walls of the lower hall. Please contact the church office if you are interested, 416-921-3327.

COVID-19

Guidelines concerning coronavirus.

At our service:
Greeters will not be offering to shake hands. A friendly smile and acknowledgement greeting will continue to be given!

Please refrain from shaking hands during the sharing of the peace. The words alone or a nod can convey the message.

People experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms, especially a fever, should stay home and avoid contact with others until symptoms cease.

Communion:
Communion assistants will continue to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water before preparing items for communion and afterwards as well as the communion vessels.

Our pastor will bless the common cup. There will be no intinction of wafers (dipping into the wine). Communion wine will be offered to the congregation only in the individual cups at the moment.

(On leaving the altar, those receiving communion are asked to place their empty cup in one of the plastic-lined containers provided by the greeters.)

General Information:
We will follow local health guidelines in our worship and meeting spaces with additional cleaning and disinfection of surfaces including door handles, railings, switches, etc.

Our Ladies’ Auxiliary will continue to prepare refreshments for Fellowship following the service, using disposable cups and plates (unless the water for the new dish washer is proven hot enough to sanitize our dishes).

(PS Since we will be generating more garbage, please put disposable cups one into the other and pile up used paper plates. Remember each city disposal service is offered every two weeks!)