GBC Community Update: Why the cross?

​Good morning. I hope you’re making this a great week! I continue to reflect on the reconciliation service we had with Lakeside Church on Sunday. I’ve heard from a number of you how powerful that was and I certainly agree.  There is great blessing when God’s church walks in unity. May this apply to all of us here at GBC as well as we walk with one another.
 
 
40 Days of Prayer Update
This is Day 37 of our 40 Days of Prayer journey.  Today we’re praying that God would use us to impact our nation for his glory. This is a bold prayer, but we serve a bold God.
It’s hard to believe we’re almost done. How has your experience with the 40 Days been? If you have any insights or experiences with this, I’d love to hear about it. Let me know.  Beyond this, I’d encourage you to continue to pray for our church and for your own spiritual journey.
 
 
Prayer Chain Update
Speaking of prayer, would you like prayer from the GBC congregation?  We wish to provide everyone in GBC, especially new members, with the opportunity to receive prayer when requested from the GBC prayer chain.  For those who may not be familiar, this is a means by which people of GBC can share prayer requests and praise items within your GBC family.  Here are a few key points about the prayer chain emails:
1)      To put forward a prayer request, please email Anne Coughey at [email protected]
2)      Prayer requests should be limited to those attending GBC or their immediate family.
3)    If you are requesting prayer for someone else, please ensure you have their permission before requesting that it be sent out in the prayer chain  
4)      We also are happy to hear about praise items so that we can all rejoice and praise our great God and Savior (For example, someone who prayed to receive Christ)  
 
If you have any questions, would like to know more, or would like to join the prayer chain and pray for your GBC family, please contact Anne Coughey
 
 
Join us Sunday
Jacob will be continuing our series to prepare us for Easter: “Love lived out …Jesus in his own words.” This week he will I look at Jesus’ crucifixion and his powerful words: “it is finished.” What does this mean and what does it mean for us?  Find out on Sunday! 
Remember, you can connect through our website www.guelphbiblechapel.ca  our YouTube channel as well as Facebook LIVE
 
 
Thought for the Day: Why the Cross? 
The cross is a crucial symbol of the Christian faith. We see it pop up everywhere: perched atop a church, carved into a graveyard headstone or engraved in a ring or suspended on a chain. The cross is our universal symbol.  Yet it’s an odd choice, don’t you think? Why Chris?  It’s strange that a tool of torture would come to embody a movement of hope. The symbols of other faiths are more upbeat: the six-pointed star of David, the crescent moon of Islam, a lotus blossom for Buddhism. Yet a cross for Christianity? An instrument of execution?
Would you wear a tiny electric chair around your neck? Suspend a gold-plated hangman’s noose on the wall? Would you print a picture of a firing squad on a business card? I hope not!  Yet we do so with the cross.
So why then is the cross the symbol of our faith? To find the answer look no farther than the cross itself. Its design couldn’t be simpler. One beam horizontal—the other vertical. One reaches out—like God’s love. The other reaches up—as does God’s holiness. One represents the width of his love; the other reflects the height of his holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards. The cross is our symbol of hope.
How could he do this? In a sentence: God put our sin on his Son and punished it there.
The Message says it this way: “God put on him the wrong who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God”. 
So, why the cross? That’s why!
 
In His grip,
Pastor Chris