Meet our people
Our Zion spiritual community is a small group of Christian worshippers with a big heart. We invite and make welcome anyone who would like to visit or join us, regardless of age, ethnicity, faith background, work and family situation, sexual orientation, and so on. We provide a stair lift for those who need one. We believe that each and every person matters, is an equal child of God. We range in age from 3 to 85, have come from Canada, Germany, Guyana, Hungary, Iran, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, the United States, and have various faith backgrounds (or none!). Our worship approach is open and inclusive, progressively traditional yet relaxed, and we celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday. We believe you can take the Bible seriously without taking it literally. And we don’t check our questions, doubts, or brains at the door. We’re at various places on our explorations of what faith and spirituality mean in our lives, and we bring open minds and respect for different places on the journey. Most of us help in some way to provide the worship service, such as setting up the altar, ringing the church bell, reading the lessons, assisting the Pastor, providing refreshments following the service. We invite new members to become active and involved easily, looking for how each person’s interests and gifts connect with what’s needed within the Zion community.
If you have questions, or would like us to know you’re coming, please contact us.
Pastor Peter was born in a European refugee camp and is enormously grateful to have been raised in Canada, immigrating in 1948 with his Grade 3 educated grandparents who raised him. Since his early teens, Peter has felt called to be a pastor in thankfulness to his own pastor who was his mentor and father figure. This has taken him to higher education in Waterloo, Saskatoon, and Richmond, Virginia. Then in Montreal, London, Kitchener, and Toronto, Pastor Peter served for 32 years in full-time bilingual parish ministry (English and German, which you may know to be God’s Mother Tongue. After all, Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible preceded King James’ translation!). During this time, He was a Director on the National Church Council of the ELCIC for 8 years, when he worked on furthering LGBTQ rights and on the Lutheran relationship with the Anglican Church. He was also a journalist, writing for various national secular and religious publications, and contracted by the Toronto Star for 7 years with their Religion Pages. Since his early retirement in 2011, Peter has served in a number of parishes including as the Honourary Assistant of an Anglican church in Scarborough, and now as Interim Pastor at Zion.
Peter lives in Toronto and travels the world with his wife Sherry, a cradle Anglican with advanced degrees in both business and theology. Sherry is a very active volunteer at Zion.
For Rosalie, hymns are prayer. The music lifts up and enhances spiritual experience, guidance, and enlightenment, while bringing together people from all walks of life.
Besides singing in the shower, some of Rosalie’s favourite pastimes are travelling, learning to cook foods from different cultures (currently Italian and Indian!), as well as indulging herself with a good fantasy novel every once in a while.
Julius’ move to Toronto led him to choir work with the former Kodaly Chorus of Toronto, the Toronto Camerata Chamber Choir, and Forest Grove United Church, as well as musical theatre work with the Toronto Hungarian Theatre, Etobicoke Musical Productions, and the North Toronto Players. He went on to become cantor – organist – pianist with three churches: St. Elizabeth of Hungary RC, Toronto Hungarian Lutheran, as well as Zion Lutheran.
As is so often the case with artists, Julius did need a day job. He completed his graduate studies in chemistry at Brock University in St. Catharines, followed by a career in environmental laboratory testing, and is now ‘semi-retired’, still consulting as a quality system auditor. But at heart and in his soul, Julius is and has always been a musician!
Our Connections
Zion is a parish of the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). Through the ELCIC, Canadian Lutherans work with other denominations and religions through both the Canadian and the World Councils of Churches on social, environmental, and economic justice issues. In many countries, including Canada, Lutherans have a special relationship with the Anglican Church – thanks to the Waterloo Declaration signed in 2001, the Canadian ELCIC and Anglican churches agreed to be in Full Communion.
Read more about this on the websites linked below.
