JUNE 10, 2007

10^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Preparation for Worship

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Faithful evangelism is “an invitation to be strange, to become a member of a prototypical but inevitably deviant community intended by God for the whole world .... Evangelism then does not seek "customer satisfaction" but is carried out as a response to the new world that in Jesus of Nazareth has broken in and because of which things can never be the same.”

Bryan Stone

On this Sunday following Trinity Sunday, we enter what is referred to as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time, the longest portion of the church year, fills the weeks which do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. The Christmas season honors the birth of Christ; the Lenten cycle focuses on preparation for the cross; and Easter rejoices in the resurrection. Ordinary Time is celebrates all aspects of the mystery of Christ.  There is nothing ordinary about Ordinary Time as the term comes from the word “ordinal” which means to tell the rank (First, Second, Third, etc.)

     During the summer season we will switch the sanctuary around with the pulpit in the middle of the chancel area and the Lord’s Table in front of the pulpit. This change allows us to realize the centrality of the Word read and proclaimed in our worship. The Baptismal font, Lord’s Table, Pulpit, and Cross in the sanctuary all align in the middle of our sanctuary.

     You may notice the baptismal font has been placed in the middle of the sanctuary emphasizing baptism as an act of the people of God. This morning we will recognize new members and also baptize a young child. Both actions occur around the baptismal font speaking our baptismal renunciations and promises.