We continue this Sunday exploring our Christian faith through the hymns we sing. After joining with the Church in Jerusalem of the first three centuries (Let all mortal flesh keep silence ... for Christ our God to earth descendeth), and with those around John of Damascus in the 8th century (The day of resurrection, earth tell it out abroad), and with Francis of Assisi in the 12th century (All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voices and with us sing), we arrive at 17th century England ... and what a story lies behind this hymn! It is one of Christian witness embodied in the life of its author, and of challenge in its words to us today.

In gardens around the world, one can find a statue similar to this. Why is that? Who might this be?

As we explore the answer, we will be led to one of the great hymns of Christian praise, ‘All creatures of our God and King ... sing praises, hallelujah’, with encouragement for our faith and a challenge for our lives.

Easter in July! Why not? Should not every Sunday be Easter Sunday, a celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord, and an acknowledgement of the Risen Lord with us?

We continue this Sunday exploring our Christian faith through the hymns we sing – this Sunday joining generations before us with verses based upon the poetry of John of Damascus  (676-734 A.D.) – ‘The day of resurrection, earth tell it out abroad!’.

With quotes from Montreal poet Leonard Cohen and indigenous song writer Caleigh Cardinal, and verses from the New Testament, a service of worship that focuses upon the presence of the Holy One in our singing and in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

This week will include Canada Day. So as it begins we gather in praise of God, with hymns and prayers ... and a sermon on one particular dimension of the history of our nation, the witness of the Huguenots, that challenges us today.

This is Father’s Day. And National Indigenous People’s Day. And the Lord’s Day. We invite you to join us and gather in the praise of God.

Join us for our Sunday worship.

As this is the first Sunday of the month, we shall celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Be sure to have some bread and a cup ready. You might even light a candle. Let us all create a sacred space in which to know the presence and promises of the Holy One for this humanity of God’s love.  God knows, we need it. 

Pentecost! 

When John and I, as Director of Music and Minister, began our preparations early in the week for this Sunday’s worship time, John mentioned to me ‘Pentecost is a great celebration. Whereas Christmas and Easter have become very much wider-community events, Pentecost remains something precious within the Church’. Precious indeed, for the Church is the work of the Holy Spirit! (Acts 2)

And at almost the same time The Visual Commentary on Scripture http://TheVCS.org  introduced me to an 11th century mosaic that fills the dome of the Hoses Loukas monastery chapel in Phokis Greece. I have enjoyed exploring it as I prepared for Sunday’s online worship.

And now I look forward to joining with you in prayer and praise, in reading and reflecting upon scripture … and through it all, celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit in binding us together into the Living Body of the Living Lord.

In a time like this, when we are constrained at every turn and know our frailty in every dimension, it is a joy to be reminded that the Church is the the work of the Holy One, whose sovereign will is to embrace us in Jesus Christ and lead us into a new community and humanity of peace and justice.

This Sunday morning we will take a final look at the high stone St. Martin Cross of the isle of Iona, with a focus upon the distinctive circle at its centre. What might the Celtic Christians have been sharing with us about the Holy One and their lives as they placed that circle on that cross?