This Sunday’s Readings:
Amos 7:12–15
Psalm 85:9–10, 11–12, 13–14 (℟ 8)
Ephesians 1:3–14 or 1:3–10
Mark 6:7–13
SENSIBLE SHOES. That was the running joke growing up when fewer religious women were wearing habits. You could tell the sisters by their sensible shoes. There’s a bit of theological truth to that. If the message of the Gospel is to go forth to the ends of the earth, you’d better have the right pair of shoes for the job.
What we pack and surround ourselves with for doing the mission of preaching the Gospel says a lot about what we think we are being called to do. There’s an apocryphal story about Pope Francis’s early days. He visits the Vatican office of evangelization and is greeted by the cardinal there, who sits behind a massive ornate oak desk. After some pleasantries, the cardinal asks the Holy Father what he can do for him in the work of evangelization. “First, Your Eminence,” the Pope says, “sell the desk.”
To do the mission of Christ, we don’t need much baggage, gear, or training. We need one another and a place of community along the journey. We need vulnerability so we can rely on the goodness of strangers and they can minister through their own sharing. We need perseverance. We need not to expect anything in return—not praise, not acceptance, not even the dust from the place. We need to shake off rejection and keep going. And of course, we need sensible shoes.
–Diana Macalintal
Suggested Music
GIA Hymnal Suggestions
WLP Resource Suggestions
Choral Suggestions:
The Summons
Words and Arrangement by John L. Bell / Adapted and Arranged by Gary Daigle
G-9837 · SATB, assembly, keyboard, guitar
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
Kathleen Thomerson / Arranged by Richard Proulx
G-8758 · SATB, reduction
MYSTAGOGY MOMENT:
“God set the stars to give light to the world…the star of my life is Jesus.”
There’s something about the first part of the text of this piece that brings to one’s mind a dark wooded area, with a clear sky filled with stars above the trees of the forest. “God set the stars to give light to the world…the star of my life is Jesus.” We can’t always see the way ahead on our own, amidst the trees and the darkness, but we have the perfect navigation system. When we follow the Light, “the night and the day are both alike” and the path ahead becomes so much clearer.
– Jennifer Odegard
I Want to Follow Jesus
Words by Kathleen Thomerson / Music by Douglas Starr
G-3904 · SATB, organ
Go Forth for God
Sam Batt Owens
G-2740 · SATB, organ
Called as God’s Holy People
James Chepponis
G-3618 · SATB, cantor, assembly, organ
More choral suggestions for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time…
Aquí Estoy, Señor/Here Am I, Lord: Salmo 40(39) Mary Frances Reza, arr. Peter Kolar SATB, cantor, assembly, flute, guitar, keyboard 012645
Call on the Lord Andrew Everson SATB, solo, descant, assembly, opt guitar 008986
Go and Teach All People Michael Perza SATB, opt soprano solo, assembly, C instrument, guitar, keyboard 008770
Go Out W. Clifford Petty SATB, cantor, assembly, keyboard 001270
Go, Be Justice Martin Willett & Kevin Keil SATB, assembly, Bb trumpet, guitar, organ 008710
I Know Something About God’s Grace Patrick D. Bradley SATB, cantor or solo, assembly, guitar, keyboard 001282
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light Kathleen Thomerson SATB, organ G-2786
I Will Go as You Have Sent Me James Alberty SATB, piano G-4910
Muéstranos, Señor/Lord, Show Us Your Mercy: Salmo 85(84) Peter Kolar ¡Aclama, Tierra Entera! / Sing All You Lands! Bilingual songbook 012637
Tesoros Ocultos/Treasures Out of Darkness Alan Revering, arr. Peter Kolar SATB, cantor, assembly, opt flute, oboe, French horn, guitar, keyboard 012671
Thanksgiving Hymn from Ephesus James Hansen SATB, cantor, assembly G-4636
We Sing a Beginning Alan J. Hommerding & Jennifer Kerr Breedlove SATB, keyboard. 008792
