Guest minister, the Rev. David S. Blanchard, will preach this week on how “most of us find it easy to blame our troubles on the past. Any sentence that begins “If only…” hauls our focus backwards as if we could take back time and spin it forward in a different fashion. I would ask, “how’s that working for you?” In his sermon, “Hope for the Past,” Rev. Blanchard will invite you to find a source of healing in the sufficiency of what was.

There will be Sunday School for Pre-K through 8th Grade. The nursery will be open for babies and toddlers.

This Sunday, the sanctuary choir will sing the very moving Zulu anthem “Ukuthula,” and Haydn’s joyful “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” (from Heiligmesse). Elizabeth Walsh will sing John Bucchino’s thoughtful “Temporary” for the offertory. Rip Jackson will play on the organ Bach’s chorale setting of “Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele BWV 654” and his magnificent transcription of Vivaldi’s “Allegro” (from Concerto in F Major) for the centering music and postlude.

Listen to last Sunday’s sermon by Rev. Anne Mason, “Doors of the Heart.”