This Sunday: Modern Worship Collective @ 6 pm

This Wednesday: Evensong @ 7 pm

Greetings!

As we continue to focus on stewardship during October, the idea of sharing can lead to some self-assessment, can’t it? We like to take stock of how we’re doing before we make promises to help others. We think about how secure we’re feeling before giving things away.

If we start measuring circumstances (or even ourselves) we can sometimes wish we hadn’t. We might not be doing as well as we would hope — or we get some really powerful messages from others that we’re not really doing as well as we should. These sorts of ideas don’t make us feel great, do they?

How do we deal with them? What can set our perspective right? I invite you to be in worship with us on Sunday, when we will hear a story about someone who was told he wasn’t living up to standards either. It might spark some helpful notions for all of us.

In Christ’s peace,

Hardy

Please join us immediately following the Sunday service for our Coffee Hour (in-person in Trinity Court or online via Zoom).

bit.ly/SVPCCoffeeHour

Theme for Sunday

“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Questions for Reflection

• Are there ways that you feel judged or held up to harsh standards in the world? How does that happen, and how does it make you feel?

• If you ever do feel judged or compared to others in a negative way, what helps you overcome it?

1 Samuel 16:1-13

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely his anointed is now before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.