Toronto is home to the Argonauts (football) and the Blue Jays (baseball), but I don't know if the SkyDome has ever seen a better game.

As the Friday evening sun completed its descent into Toronto's western horizon, God's eager fans, nearly 60,000 strong, streamed into the SkyDome to celebrate the first GC session Sabbath of the new millennium.

I don't know what moved me more, watching that swarming sea of humanity file into the bright-blue seats of the sprawling stadium, discerning the timeless expressions on the faces of the children in the South American vocal group Ka Entre Nos (Between Us), or simply singing in the company of thousands, listening to our voices reverberate into the charged air.

It was a classic Friday night vespers as the Wedgewood Trio as well as Del Delker launched the evening with medleys of old and new favorites, which guaranteed to conjure up a plethora of fond memories. The New England Youth Ensemble, who have performed at seven straight GC sessions, performed once again under the direction of Virginia Gene Rittenhouse.

The evening was marked by the appearance of Joseph Verner Reed, who represented Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations.

"Seventh-day Adventists provide a beacon of conscience, spirituality, and leadership," stated Reed, who expounded on his respect and admiration for the SDA Church while wishing the church a successful session.

In his sermon Lonnie Melashenko, director and speaker of the Voice of Prophecy, invited the audience to experience the promises that God made to Abraham and challenged the listeners with a clinching remark, "You can bet your life on Jesus' promises, because He bet His life on you."

I pondered on those words as I walked to my hotel room, tilting my head up to whisper a prayer. Looking over my shoulder, the SkyDome was aglow against the sky, and the CN Tower loomed above me like a giant needle, jutting into the indigo night.

Sabbath morning dawned clear and blue, bathed in light. It was a sweet reprieve from the rains that had forced visitors to run from the Metro convention center to the dome, their amethyst-hued GC programs a makeshift defense against the rain. This morning I was part of the profuse crowd on their way to worship.

Sabbath school was a colorful conglomeration of drama, music, and discussion. The keyword of the morning was "interactive," as youth led the audience in a kinetic trip down memory lane_the audience responding (by movement) to questions pertaining to their respective Sabbath school classes.

"Tell someone beside you that you love Jesus," exclaimed Roger Williams, from Andrews University, as the crowd, made up of separate entities, suddenly transformed into an irrepressible community, bound by the Saviour's love.

The dynamic Clifford Goldstein, editor of the Adult Bible Study Guides, sustained the enthusiastic aura of the morning with his ardent plea to the audience to "show people love." He was joined by Carlos Martin, author of the current quarter's lessons. Together they succeeded in leading an animated discussion centered on what it means to be a witness.

To herald the beginning of the church service, a Korean ladies' choir lit up the stage with their lime-green robes and filled the cavernous dimensions of the dome with dulcet voices. It struck me, as I listened to the polyphony of their notes, how much of this Sabbath was based on a sense of togetherness. It was never only one human masterminding the operation_everything my eyes regarded, every sound that entered my ears was the product of many people, sometimes coming together across thousands of miles to create the palette of beauty that made up the first GC session Sabbath 2000. From the moving rendition of "O Canada" to the procession of Pathfinders in uniform and adorned by their badges and berets to the joint prayers given by various leaders and their spouses_they were all illustrations of unity and hearts pulsing toward a common goal.

And when 11-year-old Tiffany Campbell-Dailey sang, we all thought we heard an angel sing.

Tiffany, who has been singing since she was 3, uplifted her sweet, syrupy voice to the Lord before G. Ralph Thompson delivered his sermon. He was joined initially by his wife. The huge crowd exploded in a standing ovation for those two individuals who, joined by the Lord, have worked for the church for 50 years.

Thompson had a message for each of us in the audience, catering to young and old alike, as he spoke to us about "knowing the time . . . to join together in the glorious proclamation of the third angel's message as it sweeps to its mighty climax."

As the male chorus sang to conclude the service, I thought pensively that it was too short, this coming together on the Lord's day. And when the crowd stood, saturating the stadium with "We Have This Hope," something stirred inside me, knowing that the walls of the SkyDome had never been witness to such a grand outpouring of spirit.

Sabbath, July 1, also Canada Day, will be etched in the minds of many as they leave this city and this country to return to their homes, wherever in the world that may be. Toronto's Saturday Star had a red flag emblazoned on its front page that day and declared in bright letters, "Separately we came, but together we built a country the world calls the best. Happy 133rd, Canada." But tomorrow will come with a new headline, and perhaps Toronto will forget this first Canada Day of this millennium. Perhaps they will forget how the Seventh-day Adventists invaded their city, bringing our Bibles and our love. Even these words I write are so temporary, compared to what our future holds. What Christ holds in our future, for us. On paper, today, we may exist, but things of this earth are as changeable and as fleeting as Toronto's skies, one day sun-loved, cloaked in cloud the next. But brothers and sisters, if you remember anything of this Sabbath, remember that God has already won our game; remember the message that should be emblazoned on each of your hearts, Almost Home.