World Communion Sunday

On this World Communion Sunday, in solidarity with the World Church, all those who are able are invited to receive the bread and the cup by coming forward. (Deacons will serve those who wish to remain in the pews.)

Rev. Michael will preach part two of “How the Kingdom Comes” focusing on Jesus’ command “… you are the salt of the earth.”(Matthew 5:13) Part one focused on verse 16, being the light that shines, which can be found if you click here.

The choral introit this week is “Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life,” set to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ flowing tune of The Call. Click here for the lovely music video production by Blackfriar Media. The lyrics of noted English  poet George Herbert (1593-1632), a friend of King James I, including this hymn  was in his manuscript “The Temple,” published posthumously. This poem is meditative in character, and was never intended for use in public worship as a congregational hymn. But in the 1970s it was rediscovered by editors of new hymnals and gained in popularity as still meditative in nature but, with Williams’ tune, easily sung and remembered by everyone.

In keeping with the meditative and communion spirit, the choir will again present the lovely Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether. The text by Percy Dearmer draws us in alongside the disciples as they gather with Christ in the upper room (Matthew 18:20). We are joined (think of Blest Be the Tie That Binds) by a “tether” which links all Christians of all time, in every place … just as World Communion Sunday does! In the final verse is the reminder that  “All our meals and all our living make as sacraments of thee.” Through “caring, helping, giving, we may true disciples be.”