You can join the service via YouTube!
The stream will begin shortly before 10 am, and you’re able to watch or re-watch the live-stream at this YouTube link at any time.
The order of service is available here.
You may wish to having it at hand when you join the live-stream. It includes the words to the hymns, the readings & all of the responses–it makes it easier to join in, remotely. It also includes prayers you may wish to offer during the reception of the Eucharist.
This Sunday marks the move to what we sometimes call “Ordinary Time.” But wait! It’s not ordinary in the sense of vanilla, or hum-drum: every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Ordinary in this case comes from ordinal, from the Latin word meaning to order. So really what it means in this context is that we count to help us keep track of the Sundays after Pentecost.
In the first readings over the next three months, we’ll be moving through the stories of how Israel comes to have a king–even though God reminds them they don’t need one!–and how that plays out. We’ll hear prophets calling the kings back to God’s way of justice, and of the ways God acts through tragedies to restore God’s people, time and time again.
This week, we’ll hear the story of the call of the judge and prophet Samuel, while the still-young boy was apprenticed to Eli, a priest and judge in Shiloh. We’ll also hear Paul reminding the early followers of Jesus in the city of Corinth (modern day Greece, and then the capital of the Roman province of Achaea), that the focus of our lives and our work is Jesus and making him visible in all we do. We also return to the gospel of Mark, which we’ll be moving through for the rest of the Church’s year. We’ll hear an encounter between Jesus and some challengers about what the Sabbath is actually for.
Our cover image is “The Call to Samuel” by Frank Wesley. The artist has granted permission for the non-commercial use of this image with attribution. We thank him and his estate for doing so! www.frankwesleyart.com/