AFP (Canada) Blog

Dear Anglican Fellowship of Prayer Members,
Today is the last day of 2009. This morning in my meditation time I took some time to write down my goals for 2010. This has been a custom that I have followed for many years and it helps me to see both how blessed I am as well as how I desire to seek God's direction for what lies ahead. On one hand, my goals seem to be a continuation of many good things that are happening in my life (volunteering at the Food Bank, participating in various ministries in the life of the parish, the diocese, and AFP, making family and friends a priority, maintaining my personal spiritual disciplines, etc). But as I look at 2010 I know that there are also challenges: total hip replacement in January with time for recovery, a few Conference s to lead, involvement in our parish that will be starting a major campaign to raise money for a new church, and, hopefully, some exciting and challenging motorcycle trips, and all those 'unkowns' that one must face.
But one thing I do know from experience -that I must continue to grow and change as this is part of my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Life is a journey and not a destination. The motorcycle organization that I belong to has a motto: 'Destination Friendship'. So it is not just riding with the goal of completing so many miles/kilometres in a day or trip. It is the people we are with who make the journey worthwhile. In 2009 I started to read books by John C. Maxwell, a Christian author and speaker on the topic of 'leadership'. He describes success as 'knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others'. He says that 'You will never exhaust your capacity to grow toward your potential or run out of opportunities to help others." [quotes taken from his book 'Your Road Map For Success']
It is my prayer that we in the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer will continually seek God's guidance, wisdom and strength both to uphold others in prayer and to grow in our own prayer life so that we can assist others in their journey of prayer.
Peace.
Bishop Gary
National Director for Anglican Fellowship of Prayer (Canada)

Message June '09 - "T-H-I-N-K"

At our last AFP National Executive meeting, Tony Day, from the Diocese of Toronto, gave us a little card with the following message:
"Today, Lord, before I speak, I pray that you will help me to ask,
T is it True?
H is it Helpful?
I is it Inspirational?
N is it Necessary?
K is it Kind?"

I decided to keep this card handy and let it remind me of some of the conversations that happen in my life.
Then I began to search for other sayings which remind me that the words I use are important in my ministry to and with others.
i) When Paul is giving instructions to Timothy he says: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
ii) When Paul speaks to the Corinthians, he says: "But just as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us - see that you also excel in this grace of giving." 2 Corinthians 8:7
iii) Then I thought about the teaching of Jesus in Matthew regarding the tree and its fruit:
"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:33-37

We all need words of encouragement as we journey through life - with all its joys and challenges. Thank you, Tony, for reminding me of why words are so important.

Peace.
+Gary
Bishop Gary Woolsey
National Director for Anglican Fellowship of Prayer-Canada

Prayer Site on the Internet
There are many places where one can go to in order to pray for others and to request prayers. Is there such a site for Anglicans/Episcopaleans?
I use 'Forward Day By Day' (an Episcopal publication) as part of my daily devotions and noticed an advertisement for their new website. As well as listing all the publications of Forward Movement Publications, they have many resources for church ministries.
I was interested in how one could be assisted in daily prayer and to join with others in the 'prayer chapel' (praying for requests that come in and being able to request prayers). Here is what I learned:
- go to www.forwardmovement.org
- click on 'The Daily Office' which takes you to 'The Mission of St. Clare'
- click on 'The Daily Office'
- you can pray the daily office by entering 'click for Today's Prayer Service'
- to enter the prayer area, click on 'Prayer Requests' under the heading 'Resources'
- to read the requests, click on the latest date ' # comments' which will show you, by date, the prayer requests that have been posted
- you can add your request (comment) by clicking 'Anonymous'; then add your request in the comment box; next, copy the word verification; finally publish (or review first) your prayer comment (request).

Peace
Bishop Gary Woolsey

Message May '09 - Hope For Today

Easter has one profound message that I need to hear over and over again - there is hope!! If I look at all that happened in the life of Jesus during the agony leading up to and including the cross, then I can lay my challenges and those of family and friends at the feet of Jesus. God's action of new life from death - the Easter Story - can point me to a life of hope, when my human response tends to be despair.
I have been reading Archbishop Desmond Tutu's book, 'God Has A Dream - A Vision of Hope for Our Time'. Here is a man who has faced so many challenges and people who would destroy any possible joy and peace in life! Yet he says: 'Many people ask me what I have learned from all of the experiences of my life, and I say unhesitatingly: People are wonderful. It is true. People really are wonderful. This does not mean that people cannot be awful and do real evil. They can. Yet as you begin to see with the eyes of God, you start to realize that people's anger and hatred and cruelty come from their own pain and suffering. As we begin to see their words and behavior as simply the acting out of their suffering, we can have compassion for them. We no longer feel attacked by them, and we can begin to see the light of God shining in them. And when we begin to look for the light of God in people, an incredible thing happens. We find it more and more in people - all people."
Lord, help me to see you in others, especially when I want to 'write them off' as people who can never be loved or changed.'
Do you ever get pessimistic and depressed about the challenges you face? What helps you to keep going?

Bishop Gary Woolsey
National Director for Anglican Fellowship of Prayer - Canada

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

How can I make this Holy Week meaningful for my life? There are times when I cannot seem to 'get into it' and I am going through the motions of another Holy Week. And yet there is that 'nagging' within me that wants to make it a significant part of my journey with Christ and to be able to 'feel' the joy that comes with the Easter resurrection. So what will I do? I began to let my mind go back over the past Holy Weeks and tried to remember what made a significant impact on my keeping the week holy.
- I 'planned' to make it holy by disciplining myself to take time for reflection each day
- I selected a meditation book for Holy Week which helped me see the deeper meaning of the final days of our Lord on earth
- I tried to get all my Holy Week and Easter parish preparation work done ahead of time so as not to feel the usual 'last minute' pressures that can distract me from my Holy Week journey
- I looked at the Holy Week Service schedule and made plans to attend as many as possible.

What do you do to make Holy Week and Easter significant for your spiritual journey?

Peace
Gary
Bishop Gary Woolsey
National Director, AFP (Canada) and AFP Blog Administrator

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