COVID Reflections

Dear friends,

Blessings to each of you as 2022 begins!  I pray that you feel God’s presence with you in this and every moment, and I continue to pray for God’s help and guidance as we navigate the pandemic.

As you probably know, Covid infection rates are expected to rise through most of January.  At the moment, it appears that the omicron variant is more contagious than the delta variant but less likely to lead to serious illness.  Meanwhile, both variants are still spreading.  Marc, the wardens, Joel Duregger (our Health and Safety Officer), and I meet weekly to monitor the situation.  We pay close attention to CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/) and diocesan guidelines (http://www.diosova.org/congregation_res/article467662.htm). 

For all of us—as individuals, as family members, as church leaders—decisions about Covid are very difficult, and we are mindful that our parishioners, like everyone else in the world, have a wide variety of opinions about how best to deal with the pandemic.  We are grateful for your patience and understanding.  As long as CDC and diocesan guidance doesn’t dictate otherwise, we plan to continue to offer in-person worship.  Meanwhile, we will continue to provide online worship, and we encourage everyone to choose the kind of service that best suits their needs and situation.  We also recommend that everyone eligible get both the vaccine and the booster. 

Given the current situation, we have made some changes to our protocols at St. Andrew’s.  As of January 1, 2022: 

• Everyone should be masked inside the building at all times except when alone in a closed room.
• Individuals and families should practice social distancing inside the building, including during worship (pews will be marked).

Friends, as much as we might have hoped otherwise, we know that Covid will be with us as we move into this new year.  Blessedly, and even more importantly, Jesus is also going to continue to be with us.  During the Christmas season we celebrate the coming of God into our very midst, into the brokenness and suffering of the world.  May the knowledge that Jesus is with you, even in the middle of the pandemic, bring your comfort, strength, and hope. 

Blessings. 

- Anne

Turtles and Christmas

Dear friends,

I saw an article in the paper the other day about turtle hatchlings in Nags Head, NC. It turns out that baby turtles instinctively head toward light when they first come above ground. They follow the downward slope of the beach and the light of moon and stars to reach the sea. 

 

But when turtle hatchlings crawl out of their nests near brightly-lit buildings, they get confused and can head in the wrong direction and miss out on the ocean altogether. So Dominion Energy and the Town of Nags Head are currently collaborating, installing amber LED lighting at beach accesses to guide those little turtles safely to their ocean home. 

 

What does that have to do with Christmas? you may be wondering. Well... Like those little turtles, we human beings were created to follow a certain light, but we too can easily get turned around, tempted by other blazes and beams that we mistake for the light we actually were created to seek: Jesus Christ, the light of the world. 

 

The gospel of John tells us that Jesus is the true light, the light which enlightens everyone. And at Christmas we celebrate the coming of that light into our world. I look forward to celebrating Christ’s birth with you, and I very much hope that you will take part in one or more of our upcoming Christmas services:

 

Christmas Eve – December 24:

As we gather as the family of God this year at 4:30 PM, we will hear of the birth of Jesus Christ as it is written in the Gospel according to Luke and as it is told in the children’s homily; sing our favorite Christmas carols, led by our Adult Choir; and light candles representing the baby Jesus as the Light of the World.

 

Christmas Day – December 25:

There will be a traditional Christmas Day service at 10:30 AM. As part of our ongoing Peninsula Ministry Partnership collaboration, we have invited the Rev Phillip Shearin and the parishioners of St. Augustine’s and St. George’s to join us.

 

The First Sunday after Christmas – December 26:

There will be one service, Lessons and Carols with Holy Eucharist, at 10:30 AM. This year’s lessons will focus on the Incarnation, from Old Testament prophecies to New Testament reflections, interspersed with Christmas music.

As is customary here at St. Andrew’s, Christmas offering envelopes will be available in the church narthex. You can also make your Christmas offering online here.

Wherever you are in your faith journey this Christmas: just beginning and wondering where the light is; attracted to Jesus’ light but wearied by the journey; steadfastly and joyously marching toward the light; or anywhere in between---wherever you are, I pray that God’s gift to us of his own Son, come to earth in the fragile form of the baby Jesus, will fill your heart with light and guide you in God’s good path. And I pray also that we as a faith community will continue our work together to help our parishioners and those beyond our doors to seek, know, and follow Christ, the one true light.

Light and blessings.  

- Anne

We are stewards

Dear friends,

I once had a parishioner whose husband’s family had lived in the same big house for generations. He and his father had both grown up there, and perhaps his grandfather had, too. My parishioner moved in as a young bride and was in her 60s when I knew her. Every time she and her husband had to make a decision about household improvements or repairs, they did so with an eye to the future the home would have as the abode of loved ones when they themselves were no longer alive. My parishioner saw herself and her husband as stewards, caretakers of something precious that did not in the end belong to them.

I think about that parishioner every autumn during pledge season. She understood stewardship at a gut level because she and her husband lived it every day. The treasure they had received was not ultimately theirs; just as the husband’s family had done for generations, they cheerfully worked as caretakers for the benefit of those who would come after them.

You and I are stewards, too. All that we have comes to us as a gift from our loving God; and ultimately we will not be taking any of it with us. Our pledges to St. Andrew’s for the coming year are a way for us to invest in the future not only of our beloved building and grounds but also—and more importantly—in the future of the people who will worship here in years to come, and of the people beyond our doors whom we and they will serve in Christ’s name. 

I am grateful to be stewarding St. Andrew’s alongside each of you. Mindful of the many blessings in our lives and of the call to be good stewards, John and I will be increasing our pledge for the coming year. I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

Blessings.

Anne

Generosity of Spirit

This Sunday’s Gospel lesson is the familiar story of the young man who was owned by his possessions rather than the other way around. (I certainly can identify with that guy – and not with the young part…) Jesus has a near-impossible remedy; the disciples were most upset. Give even more away? Are you kidding?!

The older I get, the more I value a broader term: generosity of spirit. Think of people who are always ready with an encouraging word, always ready to help (sometimes before you know you need it), and, because they are generous in spirit, their life’s actions seem natural and easy.

Yes, when Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, he means that ALL these things will be added unto us. In peace and serenity, we can sing, “Alleluia”.

Brad Norris

Minister of Music

A Remembrance

This month marked the twentieth anniversary of the terror attacks in New York, Washington, and over the skies of Pennsylvania. What I remember most is the initial report that a parishioner relayed to me before the gravity of what was happening was realized, an initial kind of nonchalance that a plane flew into a building. “A strange accident to have,” I thought. Then I recall the shock of a nation, the momentary non-partisan response of our legislators, and the horror of watching - over and over and over again - the planes impacting the buildings and the response at the Pentagon and the accounts of the passengers who defended the flight over Pennsylvania.

There is no adequate way to explain the abject hatred that infects peoples’ hearts, but we try anyway. In responding to that tragedy, I noted that being made in God’s likeness, we are like God in that we have the freedom to choose: among other things, the freedom to choose God or not-God. The terrorists chose not-God; chose to be evil. God was not there with the perpetrators. God was with those innocents who were massacred, in their fear and the anguish of family and friends. God was with those who so courageously responded and sacrificed. God is with those of us who remember and choose to respond to evil, not with fear or despair or returned hatred, but with the will to overcome these things with the power of God’s presence in community and in hearts and actions that render the effects of hatred impotent.

If you can say a good thing came of the attacks, I would say it was good that we had our illusions of safety shattered, for that is what they were: illusions. We thought we were safe, but we were not, are not, never have been, and never will be. It is good to not live in illusion but in truth. And the truth is, if evil exists (and it does), it is good that evil is brought into the light of God’s day so that we understand our inability to rely solely on ourselves, but in interdependence among one another and upon the One God who ultimately is the only true thing that exists anyway.

Marc