Sunday, March 17, 2019

Second Sunday in Lent  

For the 11:00 a.m. service on Sunday, The Rev. Alan Hall is calling his sermon "In the Cloud of Unknowing." “The stories of our tradition point us to a faith which is not dependent upon a rose garden or a cake walk. It is not shattered when we find ourselves in the crater carved by sadness, the gaps between the meaning, or in the silky void of darkness. When our life’s journey takes us, or ones we love, into that valley of the shadow, even here we will not fear. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.  We are not alone.”  

For the organ prelude, Dr. Patricia Wright will play O Lamb of God, All-Holy by Johann Sebastian Bach, Meditation by Maurice Duruflé, and Offertory on "Slane" by William France. The organ postlude will be Adagio for Organ and Strings by Tomaso Albinoni, edited by former Metropolitan Organist and Choirmaster S. Drummond Wolff. The Metropolitan Choristers will sing Dark World which was composed by several of the Choristers under the direction of Benjamin Stein during our summer K@MP. The Metropolitan Choir will sing I Waited for the Lord by Felix Mendelssohn (with soloists Gisele Kulak and Chelsea Van Pelt) and Here at the Door by Rob Teehan. At the Offertory, Janice Andrews will play Winter by Antonio Vivaldi, arranged by Christine D. Anderson as a hand-bell solo. The hymns are No.634 (To Abraham and Sarah), So Far From Home (text by Patricia Orr to the tune Finlandia), and No.642 (Be Thou My Vision). The final piece in the carillon prelude played by Roy Lee will be Slane, by Sally Slade Warner.  

The Bible readings are Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 (God’s covenant with Abram); Psalm 27 (triumphant song of confidence); and Luke 13:31-35 (the lament over Jerusalem).   

Do you know The Rev. Alan Hall serves at the General Council as the Executive Officer for Ministry and Employment with responsibility for the credentialing, oversight, and discipline of ministry personnel as well as being the senior staff officer for the pension and benefits plans of the denomination. Prior to this he served in pastoral ministry for 26 years.    

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