St. Andrew’s Notables: Charlie and Katie Weiss

If you have followed the series this Lent on Facebook and Instagram presenting a daily meditation and beautiful images of St. Andrew’s Stations of the Cross, you may wonder how these crosses were created.

For many years, the Good Friday Stations of the Cross at St. Andrew’s has been a joint midday service with the Hilton-area churches.  It is a solemn and meaningful experience for anyone who attends.  A talented woodworker, Charlie Weiss created each cross for St. Andrew’s Stations of the Cross.   A stark paper illustration was mounted to each cross.  After Charlie’s death on June 4, 2007, the paper pictures were replaced with professionally carved images made in Catalonia, Spain.  These new Stations of the Cross were dedicated on April 5, 2009 and used for the first time on Good Friday, April 10, 2009. These crosses are a fitting tribute to Charlie and Katie and their many years of faithful service to our church’s worship life.

After Charlie and Katie Weiss transferred their membership from Grace Episcopal to St. Andrew’s in 1968, they became an integral part of the worship team. Charlie trained and mentored the acolytes from their earliest years as candle bearers through their time in service at the altar. The acolytes and lay readers knew they could depend on him for direction and the clergy knew he would always be there to make the services run smoothly. This was especially noticeable on special occasions when the Bishop presided, for funerals and baptisms, or when incense was incorporated into the worship. Charlie and Katie worked together on the Altar Guild. It was evident that their faith and their love of worship motivated their service to God and St. Andrew’s.

I remember Charlie with affection for his work with the acolytes. My son, Brice, who became an acolyte at age five, remembers Mr. Weiss as being very nice and straightening his robes for him.  Charlie taught the children the proper way to perform their jobs and a respect for what they were doing. Brice served under his leadership through his senior year of high school.  When I served as a lay reader, Charlie straightened the back of my robe to get the pleats right. The details mattered.

Butch and I will never forget when Charlie served as crucifer at Mrs. Woodall’s funeral.  After the church service, mostly the family went to the graveside for the final internment.  An earlier ice storm had left the cemetery slippery and freezing.  Charlie carried the cross and stood by the grave during the service without wearing a coat over his vestment. We were wearing our heavy coats and huddled under blankets, but Charlie never let on how cold he must have been.

When Charlie had a serious heart attack many years ago, we were told he was about to die. Many of our St. Andrew’s prayer angels practically camped at the hospital praying and supporting the family. For days the news was grim.  The Reverend Doug Burgoyne’s wife Joanie started the St. Andrew’s prayer chain which continues to this day.  Its first members included Joanie Burgoyne, Betsy Wolak, Jean Harrell, and Marie Harrison.  In an answer to prayer and a miracle of God, Charlie awoke and recovered.  Evidently God had more work for Charlie to do. And so, he continued his duties at St. Andrew’s for many more years.

Charlie and Katie Weiss were among the many dedicated members of St. Andrew’s whose quiet, faithful service made and continues to make our worship experiences rich and reverent.

Peggy Woodall

Pray for Our Confirmands!

Several of the youth of our parish are in their sixth month of preparation for Confirmation. So far, they have delved into the Bible, examined the Lord’s Prayer, learned about the history of the Episcopal Church and gone on a great church tour of St. Andrew’s.

What I have learned about our Confirmands is that they are a group of youth who are smart, open to learning new things and not afraid to ask questions. All that is great, because I strongly agree with something I saw on an old Church Ad Project poster long ago: “Jesus died to take away your sins; not your mind.”

As the completion of their Confirmation preparation approaches, please pray for: Grace Duregger, Tucker Jones, Rachel Klinger, Caitlin Knapp, Alex Rous, Vanessa Smock, Cora Walsh and Libby Wharton.

The Confirmation service will be held on Ascension Day, Thursday, May 30 at 6:30 PM at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth.  Please plan to come and support our confirmands.

The Rev. Lorna H. Williams

Associate Rector for Children and Youth

Facilities report from the Junior Warden

I have enjoyed my time serving on the vestry and now serving as Junior Warden. I have learned a great deal serving with the leaders of our parish and my service has strengthened my commitment to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.

Steve Howell and I have worked together to resolve some of the more critical issues related to our building and grounds. We have hired GC Commercial to give the entrance to our church a facelift.  In the process, we will have them repair the exterior finish that has peeled on the overhang, clean and paint the area surrounding the main entrance way.  This work is scheduled to be complete prior to our Easter services.

We have opened the children’s playground for children up to age 6. This has been well received by our neighbors. We often see children enjoying the playground. When the weather improves, we will schedule a Friday work day asking for volunteers to help pressure wash and clean the playground equipment. The children must be accompanied by their parents and use the facility at their own risk.

We are working closely with Sexton Matthew Williamson to address areas of need within the building. Most important is the need to have the floors in the corridors and Parish Hall cleaned and waxed. This has not been done recently. We’ll enjoy a much fresher building when this is completed.  Additionally, we are working to replace several of the tables which are frequently used during special functions…the normal wear and tear has caused these tables to be unsteady.

I have met weekly with Senior Warden, John Whitley, and The Rev. Anne Kirchmier, Rector, to discuss the open issues and address the challenges which come to our attention. 

Our greatest hope as we go through 2019 is that within our budget, we are able to update various areas of the facility giving our church a warm and friendly environment for our parishioners and guests.

Junior Warden – Chris Robinson

Building & Grounds – Steve Howell

The Youth Can do it - Part 2

As promised in my last article, I want to share with you what goes on at the EYC meetings on Sundays at noon. The group, open to youth from age 12 through high school, is led and mentored by the EYC Youth Ministers: Maggie Mahloy, Nick Clark and Raven Cadena, and me, the Associate Rector for Children and Youth.

We start out with lunch, which is often provided by the great parents of the youth of EYC. After a prayer of thanksgiving for the food, we all sit and partake of the meal and participate in check-in, when each young person shares with the group any challenges or joys they have experienced in the previous week and what they are anticipating for the coming week. The youth also learn about youth events coming up at St. Andrew’s and in the Diocese of Southern Virginia, such as Happening at Chanco, for example.

After lunch, we have the formation part of the afternoon, where a lesson is presented by any of the EYC Youth Ministers or by me. Lessons are mostly based on the liturgical calendar, and on subjects and issues the youth themselves want to talk about, like stress and bullying. At other times EYC does Bible study together and prayer in the church. Throughout the year, EYC does special events: the Christmas Party, preparing the plastic eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt or making cookies and placemats for the Kairos Prison Ministry.

During our two hours together, we have fun games interlaced throughout, and most of these games are very active and very entertaining. When the weather is good, we go outside to play soccer or another ball game.

At our EYC meetings, we keep things moving and flexible, letting them know that God loves and cares for them. There is often a lot of laughter, and each time we meet it is clear to me that the youth care about each other and enjoy being together.  At the end of each meeting, the youth and Youth Ministers “circle-up” and I bless each of them with the sign of the cross on his or her forehead, asking God to protect them, and reminding them of God’s love and presence.

As you can see, each EYC meeting is full, and as I wrote in my last article, we only have a limited time together, and formation and fellowship must happen for the youth to support them in their lives as Christians and help them meet the challenges of being a young person in the world.  There is not a lot of time to dedicate to other projects.  Please know that when I say “No” to your suggestion of a project for our youth to take on, it is because I am carefully guarding the precious hours they have here for formation and spiritual growth.

I am very grateful for the parish’s support of our young people, and to me, the presence of children and youth are active signs of the presence of God.

The Rev. Lorna H. Williams

Associate for Children and Youth

Report from the Congregational Development Team

The Congregational Development Team has worked diligently this past year to meet our objectives to invite, welcome, and connect newcomers to the St. Andrew’s church community. It is a joy for all of us to see new people join with us in worship and friendship.

The team is always looking for new ways to make these things happen. During the past year we have had a number of projects with these objectives in mind. One of these was called Each One Invite One where our congregation was encouraged to invite an acquaintance of theirs to a service during the month of April. Periodically, we had what we called a Coffee Connect to meet with the most recent newcomers. This is a meet and greet social after a church service where these persons are welcomed by the team and clergy. We also make materials available to help them connect to the workings of the church. Later in the year we had an evening social for all the newcomers as well.  They met with the team, clergy, staff and vestry.  At St. Andrew’s it puts a smile on our face to see the young ones come to church. To ensure parents know their children are welcome, we prepare Activity Bags that are given out each Sunday by our greeters who, by the way, are also an important part of our welcome. Also, during this year we worked with the office staff to formalize the path for newcomers to become a formal part of our parish if they so desire.

Since the formation of the Congregational Development Team we have seen over 30 new families become a part of our church family. This is exciting to us and we want to continue this momentum. In the coming year, we anticipate doing the things that have proven to work as well as look for innovative ways to increase that success. There is no question that the overall success to date is due to and will in the future depend upon a congregation that has bought into the importance of this activity. So, we encourage our congregation to invite friends to our church, and to intentionally seek out newcomers at our services, and to welcome them and include them in our community.

We welcome anyone who would like to become a part of this team. If you are interested, please contact our team leader, Betty Delk (757-621-7974), the vestry liaison, Jay Lambiotte (757-291-2446), or the church office.

Jay Lambiotte