Sunday, July 15, 2018

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

For the 11:00 a.m. service on Sunday, The Rev. Dr. John Joseph Mastandrea is calling his sermon, “A Great Light: What is an ark?” “The ark of Covenant was a gold-covered wooden chest containing the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandment. David and the house of ancient Israel brought up the ark of the Lord as the cornerstone of Israel. What cornerstone would we place in the ark today? Paul proposes that relationship with Christ is the Cornerstone. When we take time to risk and to nurture our relationship with God and others we break down the walls of our locked away identity to be the cornerstone and extended hand of Christ today.”  

For the organ prelude, the Wayne C. Vance Organ Scholar Saya Ojiri will play Soft Voluntaries No. 1, 4, 7 by Léon Boëllmann, “Aria” from Suite No. 3 by J.S. Bach, and Pastorale by Charles Wesley. The organ postlude will be Praise to the Lord by Hans Friedrich Micheelsen. The Offertory sung by baritone Nicholas Higgs will be “How Willing My Paternal Love” from Samson by George Frideric Handel. The hymns are No.315 (Holy, Holy, Holy), No.240 (Praise, My Soul, the God of Heaven) and No.296 (This is God’s Wondrous World). The last piece of the carillon prelude played by Roy Lee will be “Air” from Orchestral Suite BMV 1068 by J.S. Bach.  

The Bible readings are Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 (David brings the ark to Jerusalem), Ephesians 1:3-14 (Adopted through Christ and given an inheritance), Mark 6:14-29 (The death of John the Baptist).