Greeting from St. John’s as the Summer solstice approaches (in 2-plus hours). The countdown to returning to the sanctuary for worship continues – Independence Day means independence from the Parish Hall for worship. We are blessed in our community and having the bounty to have multiple places to worship – God is good. We pray and bid the fathers and father figures in our lives the best on Fathers’ Day.
In worship we heard our collect writer remind us that God never fails those who have their foundation in God’s grace and goodness. Our Hebrew scripture from Samuel recounted the story of David’s deliverance from the hatred of Saul and Saul’s attempts to murder David. In this story we hear that David will be the one who binds all of the tribes of Israel together. Our Psalmist sings a song that proclaims the beauty and pleasantness we experience when all of God’s creation is united in purpose – living fully into God’s grace. The gospel reading from Mark was the point-counterpoint between Jesus, who was asleep in the storm at sea, and the Disciples, who felt that Jesus didn’t care. They were reminded that Christ’s power was there if they simply looked for it. Our sermon today was the next installment based on Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Paul asked that church (and ours too) to “behold” God (to stand in awe of and rest in the search for) and God’s grace. Paul reminded them that all they do in their ministry must be focused on embodying not only Christ’s words but the actions of Christ and Christ’s self-sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. Our job is to be ministers of and search for God’s grace already present in our lives and in the world.
I invite your comments,
Les+
Readings: 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16; Psalm 133; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41
Video of worship: https://youtu.be/HzKJ4U4FcZQ
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