Our Mission Statement - four years later

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”  (2 Corinthians 5:1)

As I skimmed the selected readings for the 9 June Lectionary, that verse from 2 Corinthians grabbed my attention and reminded me of a time only 4 short years ago when St. Andrew’s debuted its current Mission Statement (“Building God’s Kingdom through Worship, Outreach, and Fellowship”).  As I think back on it now, I remember how appropriate and fitting I found the use of the word “building” -- calling to mind both a continuous action and a concrete image.  Now, four years later, and with a new opportunity to reflect on our “building,” I take comfort in the realization that what we are actually building -- through worship, outreach, and fellowship -- will outlive all of us and our physical structure at 45 Main Street.  In a modern world where so much of what we know is instant, fleeting, ephemeral, and short-lived, what a blessing and privilege to be part of something eternal, lasting, permanent, and long-lived. 

As we take another look at our Mission Statement and what we’re building together, I find it more than appropriate to close with a prayer that forms part of the text typically used in a service that dedicates and consecrates a church.  Lord Jesus Christ, make this a temple of your presence and a house of prayer. Be always near us when we seek you in this place. Draw us to you, when we come alone and when we come with others, to find comfort and wisdom, to be supported and strengthened, to rejoice and give thanks. May it be here, Lord Christ, that we are made one with you and with one another, so that our lives are sustained and sanctified for your service.

— Lindsey Nicolai

 

General Convention, Revival, and the Flat Bishop Challenge!

Dear friends,

In just a few short weeks, The Episcopal Church will hold our 81^st General Convention, which is the governing body of The Episcopal Church.  General Convention meets every three years and is composed of a House of Deputies and a House of Bishops, with deputies and bishops coming together from each of our 110 dioceses.  The 2024 General Convention will take place in Louisville, Kentucky from June 23 through 28^th.  This year’s gathering will mark the conclusion of Michael B. Curry’s term as our Presiding Bishop.  (To learn more about General Convention, visit www.generalconvention.org)

You may remember that Bishop Curry loves revivals.  Bishop Curry’s revival ministry has inspired Episcopalians to come together for Jesus-centered worship, prayer, and action.  During his time in office, he has led 26 revivals all across the United States, including one last April here in our own diocese.  Now Bishop Curry is inviting us to join him for one final revival, which will be held on the eve of General Convention. 

The love.ALWAYS. Episcopal Revival will be livestreamed from Louisville on Saturday, June 22 from 7-9 p.m.  We are encouraged to bring friends and family and join the revival online to say "thank you," to renew our love for God and neighbor, and to welcome new friends discovering Jesus through The Episcopal Church.  Go to www.episcopalchurch.org/love-always-episcopal-revival to learn more and sign up.

Our diocese has issued a “Flat Bishop Challenge” leading up to the love.ALWAYS. Episcopal Revival and General Convention.  Flat Bishop is a picture of Presiding Bishop Curry, and we are encouraged to take pictures of ourselves with Flat Bishop and share them through social media.  Here at St. Andrew’s, we will take a picture at each service on Sunday, June 9 of us with Flat Bishop.  If you would like to print and cut out your own Flat Bishop for picture-taking purposes, go to www.episcopalchurch.org/presiding-bishop-michael-curry/official-photos.

Meanwhile, every Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST through June 26, you are invited to join a 15-minute prayer call with the Episcopal Church Revival Team.  The call is an opportunity to pray together for God’s blessing, guidance and protection on leaders preparing for the revival and General Convention and also to pray for the revival of the whole church.  All are welcome; the link can be found at www.episcopalchurch.org/love-always-episcopal-revival.

This is an exciting and important time in the life of our beloved Episcopal Church.  God is at work.  Please join me in holding the love.ALWAYS. Episcopal Revival and our General Convention in prayer in the coming days.  As always, I am so grateful to be part of this parish and the wider Episcopal Church with each of you.

Blessings. -Anne

 

Lunch with God

Only last Sunday did Anne's homily address the power of the Holy Spirit--and, for me, it was a "take away" (which I often revisit and reflect during morning meditations, and this latest take-away was no exception).  The homily brought me back to a story I remembered from a Sunday School Class from so long ago, it was called my "junior high" school era (yes, feels like a hundred years ago).  The author is unknown so the story I hope to share is very paraphrased, and I hope I capture it enough to deliver its intent.

There was a little girl named Evie who wanted to meet God. She knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so she packed her suitcase with a bag of cookies and six cans of lemonade and started on her journey. When she had gone about three blocks, she met an old woman in the park.

The old woman was sitting on a bench, staring down at some pigeons. Evie sat down next to her and opened her suitcase. She was about to take a drink from one of her lemonades when she noticed that the lady looked hungry, so Evie offered her a cookie.

The woman gratefully accepted it and smiled at Evie.  Her smile was so pretty that Evie wanted to see it again, so she offered her one of the lemonades. Again, the old woman accepted the drink and gave Evie a big smile.

Evie was delighted! The two sat there all afternoon--eating cookies, drinking lemonade, and smiling at each other--but they never spoke a word.  As it grew dark, Evie realized how tired she was and she got up to leave, but before she had gone more than a few steps, she turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug, and the old woman returned Evie's hug with her biggest smile ever.

When Evie opened the door to her own house a short time later, her mother was surprised by the look of joy on her face. She asked Evie, “What did you do today that made you so happy?"

Evie replied, "I had lunch with God." But before her mother could respond, she added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home.  Her son asked her what she had been doing all afternoon. She said she was fairly certain she had been with God.  Before her son could respond, she added, "You know, she's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 includes the verse, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."  Has someone come into your life that might need the feeling that God has reached out to them?  Are you that vessel? And like in this little story, actions spoke louder than words.  People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  Has the Holy Spirit been present for you to share?

— Debi Nicolai

A performance? Or a gift?

If you’ve been keeping up with your St. Andrew’s newsletters (and boy, our church is blessed with so many faithful readers!) you’ve seen pictures of an intergenerational choir rehearsing before worship. Children were invited to join the adult choir for a joint anthem coming up on June 2nd, and the response from young families has been amazing! Rev. Anne referenced this group (over 30 people when we’re all present) in her Pentecost sermon as one of the many ways she sees the Holy Spirit at work at St. Andrew’s. Indeed, I am struck with an undeniable sense of God’s presence when I see an adult choir member bend down to help a child find his place in the music, or a child who has been a member for only a few months sing out heartily next to an adult whose involvement at St. Andrew’s spans several decades.

At one of these rehearsals, I referenced the fact that we will be singing at worship, and I noticed one child visibly recoil. I was instantly transported back from the person I am now–whose job it is to perform weekly at worship– to the person I was at her age. I loathed having more than a few sets of eyes on me at once.

I hastily backtracked and tried to reframe the scenario. When the choir sings in worship (or when someone delivers a sermon, or signs up to be a lector), it is for the purpose of strengthening the faith of everyone present. Singing with the choir feels like a performance but is actually a gift. Culturally we are led to believe that singing is a competition, a solo activity that opens one up to criticism and exclusion (thanks a LOT, The Voice and American Idol!). In the face of that, WE are here as this child’s church family to remind her that God gave us voices to sing in order that we might be a blessing to others (and, in turn, be blessed ourselves).

The intergenerational choir is singing– offering our gift– June 2nd at the 10:30 service. At this service we will recognize all worship leaders, graduates, children’s chapel teachers, and children’s chapel participants. It will be a great way to see and hear the incredible ways God has been working in this congregation all year.

            Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. –1 Thessalonians 5: 11.

-- Ginny Chilton, Minister of Music

Friends

 I do not call you servants any longer… but I have called you friends.  -  John 15.15

Jesus ups the ante for his disciples in this past Sunday’s gospel reading from John, claiming them as more than disciples, now as friends, intimate equals. He recognizes that what he sent to  teach them is now complete, having passed on all that the Father has sent him to teach them, and commands them to love one another as He has loved them, His final summation of the law.

What does it mean to love like Jesus loves, for each of us ? How have we felt this sacrificial love in our own lives, and how do we live it out, and pass it on, in our own world and time ?

These are challenging and polarized times, an extreme distortion of a former time which was marked by more civility, where opposing worldviews have become pathologized, and the bearers of dissent are dismissed as enemies.

Come, let us reason together, and see one another through the eyes of unquenchable love, by the One sent to demonstrate the love of God, and who calls us into Holy Friendship, with Him, and with each other.

—  Kathy Gray, Deacon

Jesus will have no hierarchies,
no separations or divisions,
not even between us and him.
“Call no one good but God.”
There are no greater and lesser,
no servants and masters,
no insiders and outsiders.
Not even believers and unbelievers.
Only friends, peers, siblings, companions.
Every stranger is a sibling.
Every person you meet is a friend
for whom you would lay down your life.
There is no “them.” There is only us.
In the love of Christ, befriend this world
and everyone in it;
you will never be alone.

Friends by Steve Garnaas-Holmes