How lovely, Lord, how lovely
is your abiding place…”
~Psalm 84:1
 
“The morning is yours, rising to fullness;
the summer is yours, dipping into autumn; eternity is yours; dipping into time”
~George MacLeod
 
Story and symbol are central to the Christian faith tradition. We need art to help us comprehend something of the nature of our creator – an eternal mystery too vast for us to comprehend.
 
The church over the centuries has given us a rich story in scripture; a whole library to which we bring new questions and experience every time we encounter the stories it contains. We come to these stories praying that the Spirit will help us see something new.
 
Jesus offered us the symbol of Bread. He promised that in our memorial of him at table, we would be drawn into his presence. Every time we remember him at table, we bring our hungers—hungers that change over the course of our journey. And we hope, we expect, to be fed in the ways we need.   
 
As the church we are Christ’s body in the world—story and symbol of God’s abiding love for all creation. Thanks be to God that we are given each other so that we might help each other wrestle with our questions, name our hungers, and explore our place in God’s story and our call to show God’s love.
 
Beloved, enter into worship. There is a place for you at the table.
 
Readings:1 Kings 8:(1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43 † Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 † Psalm 84 † Psalm 34:15-22 † Ephesians 6:10-20 † John 6:56-69
 
About the Art: Photograph by Rev. Scott Anderson. Christ’s table at St Andrew Presbyterian Church on Good Friday.

​“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
~John 6:51
 
Much of the meaning and spirit of the scriptures is readily accessible and understood. But sometimes context is essential, and it is always helpful. The gospel of John was the last of the four gospels we have in the Christian canon. It was written in a time and by a community increasingly disconnected from empire and traditional (Jewish) religion. At times it takes on a more confrontational tone because the Jesus community recognizes the need for mutual support and connection, rooted in a clarity around the life and ministry and person of Jesus as central to it.
 
It is not unlike growing realizations in our own time of profound loneliness and dislocation. We need each other. We need communities of mutual care and concern. We need deep connections that help us to thrive. We need hope that is built on something more durable than wealth or access to resources.
 
This is a good Sunday, it turns out, to welcome our friends from the Bridge Ministries community. If anyone understands the benefit of mutual respect and support this community does. Let us learn and love together in the spirit of the dying and rising one.
 
In order to accommodate our Bridge Ministry community siblings, this Sunday only, worship begins at 11:00am. Join us. There is a place for you here.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14 † Psalm 111 † Ephesians 5:15-20 † John 6:51-58
 
About the Art: Valente, Liz. My Heart for the Lord, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57567 [retrieved August 12, 2024]. Original source: Liz Valente, https://www.instagram.com/donalizvalente/.
 
About the Artist: “I offer my heart to You, Lord, readily and sincerely” John Calvin [2/10 Prayers from the heart]

Liz Valente is a liturgical artist, wife and mother of 4 children; she has a master's degree in architecture and urbanism and is a professor of drawing for training architects at higher education levels. She works on several artistic fronts, such as theatre, visual arts and music, having created the album “Pipa Amarela”, released in 2013. She has worked with teenagers and young people at the Presbyterian Church of Viçosa, where her husband serves as a pastor. In her spare time, she writes prayers with accompanying art images and shares them on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/donalizvalente/