08/13/2026
Please join us as we celebrate Mary, Mother of Our Lord, on Sunday, August 16 at 10 AM. Pastor Max Johnson leads the service, and Scripture readings include selections from Revelation, Psalms, Galatians, and the Gospel of Luke.
Mary’s role is not limited to giving birth to Jesus and mothering him in his childhood. In John’s gospel, she is among the women standing near the cross; in Acts, she is among the disciples awaiting the gift of the Spirit. Through all that happened she continued to see how God was at work through her son, keeping the ancient promises to her ancestors, brushing aside the rich and powerful, and focusing on those as poor and powerless as Mary herself.
After the service, please stay and share some coffee and treats with us. We would love to get acquainted.
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TODAY'S BULLETIN COVER IS AN ICON OF THE ASSUMPTION
from St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church, New York City.
Saint Mary's resident iconographer, Zachary Roesemann, wrote this striking icon of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in 2016. Zach writes, “This icon of the Assumption of Mary is unusual in several ways. It is not a traditional Orthodox image. Nor is it a traditional Western depiction of Mary rising into heavenly bliss. It is instead based on a little-known thirteenth-century fresco in the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi by the Italian artist Cimabue (1240-1302). He was one of the first Western artists to relax the formal strictures upon traditional icons, and the result in this image is both powerful and moving. The intimacy of Mary resting on her son's shoulder, with her leg crossing his knee, is a poignant reversal of the ‘Mother of Tenderness’ icon image, in which the baby Jesus presses his face against his mother's cheek. Christ and Mary are surrounded by a starry and rainbow-colored mandorla, a symbol of the uncreated divine light of God's glory. While holding his mother, Christ looks out as if in invitation to the viewer-a promise that when the time comes he will embrace and welcome us as well.” A full color copy of this icon graces our worship space this morning. Used by special permission of Zachary Roesemann.
