Hello –
The next two Sunday are the last two Sundays before my vacation. Each Sunday, there are two things to know that make each Sunday rich with significance.
This Sunday, May 26th, is Trinity Sunday, as it is every year, the Sunday after Pentecost. At Pentecost, we celebrated the birth of the church through the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, we can take a step back and marvel at the mystery that God is, eternally, both three and one. I’m looking forward to inviting you to ponder this most satisfying mystery.
This Sunday we will also change the order of our worship service just a little. The Book of Common Prayer gives us the option to start the service with the Confession of sin, which is what we will start doing this week. The reason we are changing the order is that, for the six weeks I’m on vacation, three of those weeks the Rev. Lynn Oldham-Robinett will be here to celebrate communion, and three of the weeks Erin will be leading worship and, as a transitional Deacon, she can’t yet celebrate communion. As a result, on those Sundays when Erin leads, we will be doing a service called Antecommunion, which is like an ordinary Sunday, but without the actual table liturgy. Antecommunion always starts with Confession so, to keep things consistent, we will be start Sunday worship with Confession into July.
Next Sunday, June 2nd, in our Sunday liturgy, we will be celebrating two baptisms and three confirmations. On the previous Friday, Erin and I are scheduled to go into San Quentin and baptize two members of our Death Row Ministry, Justin and Skylar, who have requested baptism from us. For both of these incarcerated individuals this is a big deal, years in the making. The next day, Saturday, Madi, Hadly, and Camilla will be confirmed at Grace Cathedral. We will be honoring these young ladies as they take a great next step in their walk as Christians.
Next Sunday will also be the start of a monthly opportunity to bring music and love to the residents of the San Rafael Health Care Center, just down the street from us. A crew will be going over at about 11:15 to gather wit the residents to sing some of the songs we just sang in our Folk Sunday service and to offer up some prayers. We are restoring a St. Paul’s Ministry that started in the 1970s and has been on pause since COVID. Please consider being part of the crew.
At St. Paul’s, we are not passive Christians!
Blessings,
Christopher
p: (415) 456-4842