Happening This Sunday

Who's Preaching Where on Sunday?

• Traditional Services | 9 am & 11:15 am in the Church – Bishop Given Gaula
• Awesome Worship Service for Families | 9:15 am in the Hall Life Center – The Rev. Trent Pettit
• Modern Worship at The Table | 11:15 am in the Hall Life Center – Sutton Lowe
• Traditional Service | 8 am & 5 pm in the Chapel – The Rev. Libby Garfield
• The Door | 5:30 pm in the Church – The Rev. Trent Pettit
  

Worship Online

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

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

Go Forth for the City: The Church Jesus Calls and Sends – Hall Life Center
Discover Membership – The Parlor
Practicing Contemplative Prayer – Room 201
Faith, Hope, and Poetry – Room 210
Family Matters: Baby Steps – Room L18

Children's Sunday School – First Floor & Lower Level
Youth Sunday School – Room 238
Youth Confirmation – Room 236
High School Small Groups – Various locations (also meets at 12:30 pm)

Happening Today

Teen Daughters of the King
This group is for girls 6th grade through high school and meets on the third Sunday of the month at 9 am in Room L21. Our focus is on fellowship and learning how a deeper understanding of prayer, service, and evangelism bring us closer to God, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Contact Paula Burns at 713.202.3955 with questions.

World Mission Fair
Join us in Sumners Hall from 8 am - 12 pm to meet representatives of Faith in Practice and all our world mission partners and learn about volunteer opportunities with upcoming mission trips.

What’s God Got to Do with It? - Sex, God, and Your Life
Youth are invited to a 90-minute conversation on honoring God and loving our neighbor as ourselves with our bodies. This final session is titled, "Will You Go Out With Me?" and starts at 6:30 pm in the Youth Room.

The Collect of the Day

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 10:11-18

10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Musical Offering in the Church

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, otherwise known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The name comes from today’s appointed Gospel reading from the 10th chapter of John, where Christ is described as the Good Shepherd, one who lays down his life for his sheep. The Shepherd analogy is also present in the appointed psalm for the day, Psalm 23, which is perhaps the most well-known of all the psalms.

The hymn “How Great Thou Art” is based on an original Swedish hymn entitled O Store Gud written in 1885 by Carl Boberg (1859–1940). The English version of the hymn and its title are a loose translation by the English missionary Stuart K. Hine from 1949. The hymn was popularized by George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows during the Billy Graham crusades. The arrangement sung at the Offertory is by Eric Nelson, the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Atlanta Master Chorale, a chamber choir comprised of choral artists living and working in the greater Atlanta area. Nelson’s setting of this cherished hymn is fresh, lyrical, and with a series of modulations comes to a stirring close.

During the Ministration, we hear John Tavener’s mystical setting of William Blake’s poem, “The Lamb.” Often offered at Christmas, it is especially appropriate for today. A child speaks to the lamb, asking it who made it, and whether the lamb knows – a riddle of sorts. The child then answers his own question. The Lamb made the lamb. Christ, the Lamb of God created all living creatures, including the lamb. Christ is not only the son of God but God the creator.

Today and for the next several weeks at 11:15 am, the choir offers Choral Eucharist in which they sing special choral settings of the ordinary of the mass. Sung today is the “Gloria” and “Sanctus” from Missa Brevis by Franz Joseph Haydn. In addition to singing daily evensong while in residency at Salisbury Cathedral, the Choir of St. John the Divine is responsible for three full Choral Eucharists: two in Salisbury and one at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.