Jesus Christ cures an epileptic boy.  Aremnia, early 14th century.

As we journey towards Easter, we continue our journey through the Gospel of Mark. We arrive at a scene (Mark 9:14-29) in which a father brings his suffering son to Jesus for healing. And Jesus brings the father  to exclaim ‘I believe, help my unbelief’, surely speaking for all of us. Jesus meets us where we are, and brings new life not only to the boy but to all who look to Jesus. 

This is an illustration from a book of the Gospels from 14th century Armenia, home of one of oldest Christian traditions in the world, dating right back to the 1st century. There is a wonderful dynamic to it. Start at the centre with the boy’s agony dramatically imagined, complete even with a chain around his waist to prevent him from hurting himself by falling into fire or water during his convulsions. Continue to the right, and the father’s growth in understanding communicated by those pointing fingers. Follow them to Jesus on the left, with that outstretched arm and hand from which divine compassion and healing flow to the boy and the father.

The doors of the sanctuary will be open. For those who are able and wishing to attend in person, please review the mandatory protocols detailed in the previous post and in the link found under ‘Special Events’ to the right, ‘Re-Opening the Sanctuary’.

This service will be live-streamed and available at https://youtu.be/tqrnSWTLIGA – organ preludes will begin around 10:20 a.m. and the service will commence at 10:30 a.m. Other services can be found on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzEy41z3sqfRm8X_lLfKGUA Immediately after the service, the congregation will hold their Annual General Meeting, available online by Zoom. 

You are invited to have a look at the printed Order of Service below, and the announcements.

Of particular note this week are :

– Tuesday evening, 7 p.m., the third of the St. Andrew’s online winter study sessions, exploring gospel themes as embodied by characters (this week, Fantine) in Les Misérables (email [email protected] to receive the Zoom link) https://www.standrewskingston.org/winter-study-series-les-miserables/

– Wednesday evening, 7 p.m., the second of a Lenten online series offered by Dr. William Morrow, ‘Where’s the Gospel in Genesis? Hard Stories in the Bible’s First Book’, with the first being a look at The Flood: an inter-church initiative and free, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link … https://stjameskingston.ca/lenten-series/

also Friday afternoon, March 5, World Day of Prayer, 1:30 p.m.: see the WDP link at http://www.stpaulkingston.org for details

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