Sunday September 27, 10:30 Prayer 3) Hallowed Be Your Name

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Original artwork by Lesley Shatwell

 

When Béatrice and I were considering names for our first born, we began by sharing with each other our personal favourites at the time. For a girl, my contributions were ‘Imogen’ and ‘Ailsa’, one very English and one very Scottish, both probably reflective of my formative years at Edinburgh University. I liked the sound of these names.

This autumn we are exploring the Lord’s Prayer anew, turning this Sunday to the phrase ‘Hallowed be your name’ (Matthew 6:7-13). The original depth of this phrase is difficult to appreciate, given how different are our concepts of both ‘name’ and ‘holy’ two millennia later.

And I think about how the Holy One was never given a name, but in an act of revelation and relationship gave ‘the name’ at the burning bush, ‘I am who I am’  (Exodus 3:14).

The doors of the sanctuary will be open for worship at 10:30 a.m. (Please see the post under ‘Special Events’ in the column to the right for the protocols and shape of the service). The service will also be live-streamed, active just after 10:20 a.m. with organ music for meditation, commencing with the Entry of the Scriptures at 10:30 a.m. DUE TO TECHNICAL GLITCHES, THIS SERVICE HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN.

The Order of Service, music notes and announcements can be found at the end of this post.

IT IS POSSIBLE TO SEE PREVIOUS SERVICES on our YOUTUBE channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzEy41z3sqfRm8X_lLfKGUA

Free parking is available Sunday mornings in the surface civic lot off Queen Street behind St. Andrew’s, and on the streets of the neighbourhood – please note that time-of-day restrictions north of Queen are not enforced on Sundays. For accessible entrance to the sanctuary, please use the ramp by the western-most door along Princess Street.

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Sunday Feb 9, 10:30 a.m. ~ Rejection and Commission

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Jesus Mafa Art – Northern Cameroons, West Africa

We arrive at two revealing scenes this Sunday in our journey through the Gospel according to Mark.

In the first, Jesus is rejected by the people of his hometown (Mark 6:4). Might familiarity be an enemy of faith? For many of us raised in the Church, this possibility comes as a challenge.

In the second, Jesus sends his disciples as partners in his mission of extending the healing and embrace of the Holy One. And he declares that they need to travel light (Mark 6:8). For many of us in the Church, accustomed to frameworks of support from creeds to physical sanctuaries, this exhortation comes also as a challenge.

As I consider these scenes, I find this painting by the Jesus Mafa community in northern Cameroon helpful. It is just one of dozens that date back over 50 years and an initiative to make the gospel real in a particular region of this West African nation. A team of a church leader, a theologian and an artist would read a particular gospel passage and invite people of various villages to enact what they heard. Photographs were taken of the skits and tableaux, and the artist would eventually paint a canvas. It was a tremendous project, one that prompts the question … what might the gospel look like in my community? What does it mean for me/us to go in the power of the Risen Lord ‘lightly’?

If you are in the area, we warmly invite you to join us. Certified child care is offered during the service and a programme for young children also. After the service a time of fellowship over tea or coffee, so please linger if you can and allow us to introduce ourselves more fully. 

There is free parking on the streets around (please note that the time-of-day restrictions on Clergy Street north of Queen are not in effect on Sundays) and in the surface civic lot just behind the church off Queen Street. There is a wheelchair lift inside the doors to St. Andrew’s Hall from the church parking lot mid way along Clergy Street, and hearing assist devices are available upon request from an usher. 

Have a look at the Order of Service and bulletin below, and consider each hymn and prayer and announcement a personal invitation to join us in Christian worship, community and service.

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Next Sunday, we welcome the Rev. Prudence Neba of the Presbyterian Church in the Cameroon to St. Andrew’s.