O may His love, immortal flame, tune every heart and tongue. —Anne Steel Each of the hymns in this morning’s service elaborates on some aspect of the call for the Christian to be witnesses for the Gospel “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In the opening and closing hymns,…
After spending 11 verses establishing his authority as an apostle and the accompanying rights and privileges to which he is entitled, Paul makes what could be an unexpected turn: refusing the comforts of material gain. He does not assert his rights, preferring instead to “endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (1…
In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul develops a principle that he has set out in the previous chapters: dealing with interactions between brethren with wisdom and care. Just as he answers questions on human relationships with pastoral tenderness in chapter 7, here the apostle deals with a religious controversy with practical wisdom: the more mature should not wound their weaker brethren…
Light of the anxious heart, Jesus, Thou dost appear To bid the gloom of guilt depart and shed Thy sweetness here. —Bernard of Clairvaux Just as Paul warns his readers in 1 Corinthians 7 to be “free from anxieties,” the hymns we sing this morning develop themes of setting aside worldly fears in favor of the rest we have…
Teach us, then, by humble means, whether rich or poor, In times of hunger help us lean upon the gracious stores, Christ our gracious store. —Nathan George In today’s sermon text, we find Paul encouraging us towards contentment: “…let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him” (1 Corinthians…
Bulletin This collection of music was chosen to assist us in meditating on the sufferings of Christ on the cross, as presented in John’s Gospel. The choir will be presenting two texts directly from the Gospel of John. Thomas Tallis’ If Ye Love Me is a sparkling gem of Renaissance polyphony, in which the voices crisscross in a challenging web…
The very first promise of redemption comes immediately after the Fall of Adam and Even in the Garden. There, God declares that the “seed of the woman” would “bruise the head of the serpent” (Genesis 3:16). In the earliest churches, this great promise was artistically represented by mosaics of dragons on floors—upon which everyone in the congregation could step and…
The palm tree and palm leaves appear again and again throughout the Bible as symbols of integrity, honor, righteousness, holiness, godly authority, and royal glory. The palm was used in the carved decorations of the temple, usually associated with the Cherubim, but also with the regal lion and the flower in full bloom. In addition though, throughout the entire ancient…
I hope that over the past five weeks you have enjoyed learning and singing Do You Decree, O Earthly Gods (Psalm 58). This is certainly one of the more unusual texts in the psalter, in which David details the corruption of earthly rulers who “go astray from birth, speaking lies” (vs. 3), have venom like serpents (vs. 4), and “deal…
During our Wednesday night Lententide devotions, we have been walking through passages from the Gospel of John, highlighting not just the details of Jesus’ passion and death (“what” and “how), but why He had to die. Likewise, in this morning’s text from 1 Corinthians it could be easy to focus on the prohibitions Paul places on sexuality and miss the…