Happening This Sunday

Who's Preaching Where on Sunday?

• Traditional Services | 9 am & 11:15 am in the Church – The Rev. Caroline Devitt (9 am) & The Rev. Libby Garfield (11:15 am)
• Awesome Worship Service for Families | 9:15 am in the Hall Life Center – The Rev. Libby Garfield
• Modern Worship | 11:15 am in the Hall Life Center – The Rev. Dr. R. Leigh Spruill
• Traditional Service | 8 am & 5 pm in the Chapel – The Rev. Caroline Devitt (8 am) & The Rev. Dr. R. Leigh Spruill (5 pm)
  

Worship Online

• Traditional Service in the Church (9 am - with Order of Service & Announcements)
• Modern Worship in the HLC (11:15 am - with Announcements)
  

All-Ages Education Hour — 
10:15 am Administration Building

Lectionary Lectio Divina Group – Nau Family Room
Family Matters – L16 & L18

Children's Sunday School
Birth - age 2, Rm 104
Age 2 - Rm 113
Age 3 - Kinder, Rms L07, L08
Grades 1 - 3, L17
Grades 4 & 5, L19 & L 20

Youth Sunday School – Room 238
Youth Confirmation – Youth Room

Happening Today

L.I.F.E. Houston Baby Formula Drive
Help us collect donations for a Mother's Day Baby Formula Drive for L.I.F.E. Houston now thru Tuesday, May 13! Formula, diapers, wipes, etc. can be dropped off at the SJD front desk in a big red bin or ordered from Amazon.

Go: Loving Our City Like Jesus Begins
Many of us desire to take seriously God’s call to welcome the stranger, to be a light for the city, and to go forth to love and serve the LORD! But we often feel overwhelmed and unequipped to do so. Where do we start? How does this become part of our lives? We start this series at 10:15 am in the HLC with “What is GO ministry?” by the Rev. Dr. Leigh Spruill.

SJD Master Plan Town Hall
We are excited to share more news about the Campus Master Plan for SJD at our fourth Town Hall at 6 pm in the HLC. Our partnering architects, Merriman Holt Powell, will give an update on our master plan process, followed by an opportunity to ask questions. You can also view the livestream. 

The Collect of the Day

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 20:19-31

20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Musical Offering in the Church

On this the Second Sunday of Easter, we continue our celebration in the hymns and anthems that we sing. Our processional hymn, “Good Christians all, rejoice and sing,” is a triumphant hymn of praise to the risen Christ. Its sturdy chorale tune is crowned by a setting of three alleluias that bring each stanza to a jubilant conclusion. At the Offertory, we hear “This joyful Eastertide,” a text authored by Anglican priest George Woodward. It is paired with the music of the infectiously joyful Dutch carol Vruechten.

The hymn “In Christ Alone,” which we sing today at the conclusion of the Ministration, was composed as a collaboration between Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend. Written in 2001, it is one of the most popular Christian songs written this century and appears in over thirteen hymnals. According to the Gettys, the genesis of the hymn “grew first out of an excitement to write hymns that would help twenty-first century Christians sing, know, and embrace the incredible truths of the Lord in fresh language, and second out of a frustration with the lack of depth in the songs that were being sung in many churches.”
Stuart Townend’s roots are in the Anglican Church where his father served as a vicar at Christ Church, Sowerby Bridge (1974-1985). He was recognized by The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Awards with “The Thomas Cramner Award for Worship” (2017), the citation noting, “His outstanding contribution to the contemporary worship life of the church resides especially in putting songs on our lips which root us in God’s story….”