Grey Cup graces Ottawa Civic Prayer Breakfast
Event tweaks theme to emphasize unity
Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer
The Ottawa Civic Prayer Breakfast has a unique guest this year: the Grey Cup. With the city celebrating last year’s Grey Cup victory, prayer breakfast organizers appointed 1976 Grey Cup champion Gerry Organ as this year’s speaker.
“Knowing the Grey Cup would be held in Ottawa this year, for ‘Canada 150’, we through it would be great if we could get the actual trophy on site,” says Richard Long, one of the event organizers. “The CFL was very gracious to agree. So we also got on the official Ottawa 150 list of events as a result.”
Since it started, eight years ago, each breakfast featured the theme, “Who is my neighbour?” but this year Organ tweaked it for a double entendre.
“The theme will be ‘Let’s have a drink together,’” he explains. “Ever since Jesus’ day, the best way to teach, preach, and influence was over a meal and a drink. I’m building the case that we really need to drink together as a preparation for working together to love our neighbours and advocate for them.”
“Getting together is an essential component of what God has called us to do.”
Organ says the theme plays off the idea of loving our neighbours by emphasizing the need for Christian unity.
“The one thing CFL teams all desire to do is drink together from the Grey Cup. Good teams work together. They play hard together and they challenge each other toward excellence. [The Church] needs to be strong like a good team by metaphorically drinking together, having fun together, and celebrating together, and then loving our neighbours.”
The Breakfast always has a focus of praying for Ottawa’s leadership and first responders. This year is no exception, but Organ says praying for and supporting the city and its officials takes a community.
“Getting together is an essential component of what God has called us to do. The stronger we are as a community, in fellowship, the stronger we can be in praying for and supporting the endeavors of our city leaders and those who provide security. Their job becomes easier when we do our work of prayer, service, and loving our neighbours.”
“We feel that God is pouring out a spirit of prayer on our city.”
Long says another addition this year is that they made special arrangements so pastoral leaders could gather for prayer after the Breakfast.
“This year there is an extra effort to increase the prayer happening on this date and going forward,” states Long. “We feel that God is pouring out a spirit of prayer on our city and we want to do our part to facilitate this.”
The prayer breakfast is scheduled for Friday, October 27, starting at 7:15 at the Ottawa Conference and Convention Centre.
Similar Articles
Unity as a message of hope
Unity and compassion send a powerful message in these divided days. That message is clear, pointing to the love of Jesus this Christmas, through a partnership between the Ottawa Seventh-day Adventist Church and Britannia Baptist Church. “A much larger, established […]
Big fruit from the Big Give
This year’s Big Give saw tremendous growth, increasing from 66 churches, in 2016, to 92 this year. With the growth has come amazing stories of lives touched by a united Church demonstrating […]
A place of refuge
Dozens of Arabic people have turned to Jesus in Ottawa, in the last year. When COVID hit, Ottawa’s Arabic Bible Church (now called ABC) was only a year-and-a-half old and averaged 40 attendees on a Sunday. In the last year, they tripled. “God has really […]
March for Life marks 25th anniversary
The National March for Life marks their 25th anniversary with big plans for this year’s march. Although they expect smaller crowds than previous years, the March is back in person, rallying on Parliament Hill May 12, at 12:30. “This is not exactly a milestone we want to be celebrating […]
Warrior identity
Catholic men from around the city will soon gather to explore and deepen their Christian faith, becoming better equipped against the challenges of today’s society. Inspired by Fr. Larry Richards’ book Be a Man!, the John […]
MPs prepare for first vote on Cassie and Molly’s Law
A key parliamentary bill is up for its second debate in the House of Commons. October 5, 2016, is the first opportunity MPs have to vote on Bill C-225, “Cassie and Molly’s Law,” named for a mother and her unborn daughter killed during […]