How great is the love of God

God’s love for you is excessive, wild, and lavish, students at Smithville Christian High School were told today.

In the second chapel of Spiritual Emphasis Week, spiritual life director Gord Park read a Bible story from Luke 11, commonly known as The Prodigal Son.

“Prodigal means wild, excessive, lavish,” Park told students, and the son in the story is seen that way because he squanders his entire share of the family inheritance in wild living.

But the story is really about a prodigal father, Park said, because the father’s love for his wayward child is even more wild, lavish, and excessive than the son’s wasteful spending.

In the story Jesus tells, the father provides a robe, a ring, and sandals for his returning child, which the Jewish audience would have understood hearkened to a prophecy from the book of Ezekiel. The son had broken every rule of family loyalty and community standards, yet the father signals that his love, his blessing, and his generosity are not affected. “This is a sign that he is still family, a signal that he is to be honoured,” Park said.

The same is true for you, Park told students.

“No matter what you may have squandered, no matter what you may have done, God loves you.” God allows us free will, but pours love, grace, and mercy into our lives, even when we fail. Park said he prays that students profoundly experience God’s love for them.

Student praise team Breakthrough led in worship with

• What a Beautiful Name - Hillsong
• Faithful God - I AM THEY
• How Great is Our God – Chris Tomlin
• The River - Jordan Feliz

After lunch, small groups met for discussion. Today’s discussion questions were created by students in Grade 12.

1. What are you most hoping for for Christmas?
2. Do you identify in any way with the prodigal son?
3. What have you seen of the reckless love of God in the world?
4. What have you seen of the reckless love of God in your life?
5. And are you hungry for that type of love?

  

How great is our God!

Spiritual Emphasis Week 2021 kicked off with Spiritual Life Director Gord Park inviting students to give each other – and themselves – permission to let God work in their lives this week. It might seem uncomfortable, or downright frightening – like Peter getting out of the boat to walk on the water towards Jesus – but being part of a Christian learning community means we have an opportunity to grab hold of the things that God has prepared for us, Park said.

“Something is going on this week and it’s for you,” Park told the students, inviting them to say out loud to each other: “Whatever God wants to do with you today is okay with me.”

The theme for this week, and for the entire school year, is How Great is Our God, Park said. Reflecting on the greatness and grandeur of God is an opportunity to make God bigger in our lives and to minimize the things that undermine us or undermine our relationships with God or each other.

The magnificence and beauty of the universe – whether we look out into the galaxies or inward to the complexity of life – reveal the magnificence and presence of God, Park said. Knowing and worshipping God is not merely about getting into heaven, but being able to enjoy heaven on earth by allowing God to shape the way we live.

Maximizing God, and minimizing things that undermine our relationship with God also means that we listen to the messages of God’s love for us, and ignore negative thoughts that can intrude. “Maximize the potential God sees in you, don’t minimize who you are in God,” Park said.

Praise Team Ablaze led in worship with “Just Be Held,” “Another in the Fire,” and “One Way.”

There are prayer stations set up in the atrium and daily, student-led discussion groups.

Spiritual Emphasis Week continues with chapel every morning this week and a whole-school community-building event on Wednesday afternoon.