Blessing of the Animals October 4, 2015

This Sunday, June 24th, 2018

~Fifth Sunday after Pentecost-Year B. Youth Sunday.

~8:00 AM – Holy Eucharist, Rite I in the Chapel.

~9:30 AM – Adult Forum in Guild Room.

~10:15 AM – Holy Eucharist, Rite II in the Main Sanctuary.

Your Sunday’s Weekly Reflection

A Note on Today’s Readings                               Proper 6: Sunday closest to June 15—Year B

Welcome to All Saints’ parish. Today’s Gospel reading is a series of brief parables in which Jesus describes the Kingdom of God. The primary image is of something that seems small and weak, but which through God grows into the greatest of its kind. Thus, until the appearance of Jesus, God’s plan was unknown and hidden. But now in Jesus’ ministry it is revealed as the rule of God over the entire universe.

The first reading, from Ezekiel, gives us an image similar to that of the mustard seed used by Jesus. Here the coming kingdom of God is likened to a tender sprig from a tree which God plants. It grows into a mighty and noble tree which gives shelter to all. Earthly kingdoms will ultimately be dried up by God and replaced by God’s reign over all.

Today’s reading from II Corinthians discusses the temporary and incomplete nature of our life in this world. Our ultimate life is in the Kingdom of God where everything and everyone in Christ is a new creation. In the meantime, we are to live as though we were already in that Kingdom.

For a brief time, in the Eucharist, we have a foretaste of God’s Kingdom, and we live in the presence of Christ as redeemed people. Not yet consummated, the Kingdom is, for a moment, revealed. It is likewise revealed whenever we, in obedience to our Lord, minister in his name to others, especially to the poor and the sick and the oppressed.

From The Rite Light: Reflections on the Sunday Readings and Seasons of the Church Year.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael W. Merriman. Church Publishing Incorporated, New York.