Sunday, Feb. 4

Fifth Sunday of Epiphany

For the 11:00 a.m. service on Sunday, the Rev. Dr. John Joseph Mastandrea is calling his sermon “Foundations of the Earth.”

“In our 200th year at Metropolitan, we look to our foundations, the landmark moments where we have heard the call to be the vanguard in our city. Every era has met the lament of critical challenge to be the people called to be shepherds, stepping forward to be leaders, listening to the cry and living pain of those on the edge and in our midst. It is in the depths of our faith community that lie deep within the earth that there is more than a residue of memory and carved stone. We listen to the living stones and vital roots of God spirit. God heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds.”  

For the prelude, Dr. Patricia Wright will play “Allegro Con Brio,” “Andante Religioso,” and “Allegretto” from Sonata IV in B-flat Major by Felix Mendelssohn, Prelude in C Minor by Mendelssohn, and A Fancy on 'Westminster Abbey' by Richard C. Baker. For the postlude, she will play “Allegro Maestoso e Vivace” from Sonata IV by Mendelssohn. At the Offertory, mezzo-soprano Valeria Kondrashov will sing “O Rest in the Lord” from Mendelssohn’s Elijah. The Metropolitan Choir will sing “How Lovely Are the Messengers” from St. Paul by Mendelssohn and In This Place by Will Todd. The final piece in the carillon prelude played by Roy Lee will be Paraphrase on a Siciliana of Pasquale Ricci by Ronald Barnes.

The Bible readings are Isaiah 40:21-30 (the incomparability of God the Creator), I Corinthians 9:16-20 (the rights of an apostle), and Mark 1:29-39 (Jesus heals many at Simon’s house).