As we enter Passion Week and move towards Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we want to express our appreciation to each of you for your faithfulness as you serve through the congregations, mission units, outreach ministries and chaplaincies of The United Church of Canada in Toronto Conference.

We recognize that your ministry of providing pastoral care, spiritual guidance, and worship leadership in interpreting the message of Easter hope is particularly challenging in these busy times of Holy Week, as people remember the suffering of Jesus and connect that pain to personal sorrow and to the suffering they see in the world around them.  We know that your ministry can also be rewarding to you and others as you interpret God’s love and the hope of Easter to those you serve. We can only say ‘Thank You’ and keep you in our prayers as we do.

In the words of Hymn 111 (VU): “As the sun with longer journey melts the winter’s snow and ice/ with its slowly growing radiance warms the seed beneath the earth,/ may the sun of Christ’s uprising gently bring our hearts to life.”  May the blessing of God’s presence sustain and strengthen you.