The Sabbath Eve. Alexander Johnston, 1851.

It is classic and ‘high’ Victorian in style, but this canvas does speak to me today. I see a modest rural cottage with rough floor panels, a picture without a frame tacked to the wall, and only a curtain separating the bed from the common room. I see individuals who have set aside their six-day-a-week work clothes for their Sunday best. I see an ailing matriarch, a pensive patriarch, a mother trying to calm her infant, a young man reading passages of Scripture early on the evening of the first day of a new week, and a young woman listening, wondering what to make of what she hears.

But what speaks to me most directly in this particular Sabbath scene was the dimension of family. Individuals with so many differences of age and personality and understanding, but bound together by mutual respect and covenantal love. As I prepare my sermon and bring an update from General Assembly, it is this calling to be a family of Christian faith that is highlighted for me – the call for us to be gathered, to hear and reflect upon and work out the promises of God, for the good of all and to the glory of God – the call to be together.

You are invited to join in an hour of the worship of God – hymns, readings of scripture, sermon and prayers. Have a look below at the Order of Worship and announcements for this Sunday. The service will be available online this Sunday from 10:20 a.m. at https://youtu.be/K2tGASthTto and afterwards placed on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/StAndrewsPresbyterianChurchKingston

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