Weekly thoughts from the Rector of Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, where these words remind us that Jesus’ peace goes with us into the world.

Next Sunday, May 29, our summer worship schedule begins. Through mid-August, our Sunday morning liturgies will include Holy Eucharist, Rite I, at 8:00 a.m. and Holy Eucharist, Rite II, at 10:00 a.m. That early service will be a complete traditional liturgy and not one of the shortened versions that we use for all of our traditional services throughout most of the year due to time constraints. The mid-morning service, which brings together most Palmers who don’t always see one another during the rest of the year, will include the summer adult choir, a sung psalm, and limited use of incense (i.e., not filling the church with it while the gospel is read).

In addition to those morning liturgies, there will also be a more informal service through mid-August at 5:00 p.m. in St. Bede’s Chapel. On most of those Sunday evenings, this service will include some bluegrass music from a banjo player. Individuals will have the opportunity to volunteer to participate, perhaps for the first time, in parts of the service as they arrive. Folks who do so might want to sign up for those ministries to serve at other services after the summer. This is a way of inviting people to offer part of their lives to the whole community gathered in worship and, above all, to the glory of God.

Without that last part, all of these things are merely a clanging symbol because love is absent from our hearts. Fill our hearts with love divine, Lord Jesus!

— The Rev. Neil Alan Willard, Rector