Welcome to your online worship for Sunday, September 11, 2022.
It is with much grief that we received the news of the passing of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, on Thursday this past week. Our Bishop, The Right Reverend Todd Townshend, has invited us to use this prayer as we remember her:
O God, from whom comes everything that is upright and true: Accept our thanks for the gifts of heart and mind thou didst bestow on thy servant Elizabeth, And which she showed forth among us in her words and deeds; Deal graciously we pray thee, with those who mourn, especially the members of the Royal Family, that casting every care on thee, they may know the consolation of thy love, Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In our parish life this week, I want to ask your continued prayers for our Sunday morning children’s faith development program called “Waypoint: Kids” which starts this morning at St. Mark’s. It has been a long and difficult couple of years for our parish families and a challenge for our ministry to them. Please keep our parish children and our volunteers in your prayers, that the Good News may be proclaimed and lived out in all we do in Christ’s Name.
A thank you to Ryan Van Dijk for his wonderful music which accompanies this weeks video, and for his music ministry at St. Mark’s as our new Music Director.
And lastly, a reminder that if you are at all uncomfortable being in-person for worship, or if you are not feeling well, please join us here online.
Today’s Opening Sentence
“There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
– Luke 15.10
Today’s Reading – Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”1
Your Online Message and Prayers
Click on the above image to view our online worship on YouTube.
Thank you again for joining with your parish family in our online worship today.
God Bless you and have a blessed week. Be well!
Peace,
The Rev’d Rob Park
- Scripture quotation is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.