Welcome to our Worship Celebration for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Sunday, September 5th, 2021 (Service of Holy Eucharist)
You are welcome to join us in person on Sunday mornings at 10:30. While reserved seating is not required at this point, all Covid protocols (masks must be worn, use of hand sanitizer, social distancing, contact tracing etc.) still apply.
ALL ARE WELCOME HERE!
THE READINGS:
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Psalm 125; James 2:1-17; Mark 7: 24-37
What all the verses selected from Proverbs 22 have in common is their cautious stance toward riches and their sympathy for the poor. Heard alongside the First Testament story, Psalm 125 commends the upright life as exemplary. Today’s Gospel story presents Jesus as healer, first of the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter, then a deaf man with a speech impediment. Respectful treatment of the poor is called for in today’s teaching from the Letter of James, which calls for faith that works to supply the physical and mental needs of the poor and hungry.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
“Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor” (Jas. 2:5-6a). Since 2000, opioid overdose deaths in Canada have risen 592%. Currently, the highest opioid-related deaths in Ontario are in the North, with Sudbury’s death rate being the most startling. Though substance abuse in all of its forms is not limited to the poor, it is well documented that substance abuse impacts those who are homeless, suffer mental illness, or have low-income at a much higher rate than those with greater economic security. What does this mean to you as a person of faith? How might God call the church to respond to this situation?
Please feel free to share the link to this worship service with anyone you feel may want to worship with us, or who may be seeking a spiritual home.
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