Important follow-up message from Anne - what you need to know right now

Dear friends,

I hope and pray that this finds each of you well. I am praying especially for God’s peace and guidance for each of us as we do our best to adapt to the new and changing situation in which we find ourselves. And, of course, I join you in praying for all affected by the Coronavirus.

As you read in yesterday's email from Bishop Haynes, "To safeguard our people and those in our communities and to mitigate the rapid, uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus, all church activity including worship is suspended immediately for a period of two weeks in the Diocese of Southern Virginia."

What this means for St. Andrew's is that all in person group activities are cancelled for now. But we are blessed to live in a time when there are so many ways for us to be in community with one another even when we cannot gather together in person. I encourage you to make use of all available tools to stay in touch and to continue to provide the ministries of worship, outreach, and fellowship that are hallmarks of St. Andrew’s. As events in our area continue to unfold, we will use our Constant Contact emails as our primary method to get information out to you in a timely way.

Marc and I are both learning to use social media to make and share videos. We hope that you’ll join us on that journey (and be forgiving of our inevitable errors!). I just posted my first ever video on our church's Facebook page. Click here to watch it.

A video of our Sunday morning worship will be available through our Facebook page. We will send an email with a link to that worship video.  We also plan to offer worship on Tuesdays and the Toxic Charity study on Thursdays. Stay tuned for more information. You do not need to have a Facebook account to watch videos that we post on our church's Facebook page.

Thanks to the ministry of our own Ann Turner, both our diocese and our parish have access to numerous online resources. I hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity to try them out through the links below.

Blessings to all of you. Please don’t hesitate to call or text or email at any time. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Anne

Our Website
www.standrews-episcopal.org

Our Facebook page
www.facebook.com/standrewsnewportnews

Diocese of Southern Virginia website
www.diosova.org

Message from Bishop Susan and our rector, Anne - suspension of church activities to prevent spread of coronavirus

Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

    do not be alarmed, for I am your God.

I give you strength, truly I help you,

    truly I hold you firm with my saving right hand." 

(Isaiah 41:10, NJB)

 

Much has unfolded since I wrote to you less than 48 hours ago. Just yesterday, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. Major universities, including many in our own Diocese, have closed their classrooms. Employers large and small, some in our own Diocese, are directing employees to stay home and telework. Numerous dioceses, including the Dioceses of Virginia and Washington, D.C., have suspended or sharply curtailed church activity.

 

To safeguard our people and those in our communities and to mitigate the rapid, uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus, all church activity including worship is suspended immediately for a period of two weeks in the Diocese of Southern Virginia.

 

During this suspension, we will monitor forthcoming guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and healthcare professionals in our own communities and assess new developments and the precautions they require. Further guidance will be issued by March 26.

 

As Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wrote in a statement released today: "The next 30-60 days at the least are simply going to be unlike anything we have experienced in recent history...The dilemma of what we know and what we don't know will continue to complicate our decision making and our lives."

 

Holding one another and all affected by this pandemic in our prayers, let us remain steadfast and faithful, trusting that the One who promises to "hold you firm with my saving right hand" is abidingly faithful.

 

Let us encourage one another by being purposeful in finding ways to remain connected with one another electronically or by phone, so that together we sustain our spiritual health and as one body and respond in ways that safeguard our physical health and that of others.

Prayer and worship resources can be found here.

A letter from our Rector, Anne Kirchmier

Dear friends,

I am grateful for Bishop Haynes’ leadership as we all navigate these unfamiliar waters together. Here at St. Andrew’s, we will be offering Sunday worship online, including a sermon. We also plan to offer the Lenten evening Toxic Charity study online.  We will send out more information about these electronic offerings tomorrow, once we have finished laying plans.  

Even though we will not be gathering in person on Sunday morning, we can still worship God together. Gathering online will be a new adventure for us! And for those who are not able to participate electronically, remember that our Book of Common Prayer contains many worship services for public and private use, including Morning Prayer (Rite I, page 37; Rite II, page 75).

While it is indeed disappointing not to be able to gather together in person for worship, not doing so may save lives. As Christians we are called to care for one another, and putting up with this inconvenience is one way for us embody that care.

This is a difficult and scary time. The good news is that we are not alone. We are never alone. God is here with us, surrounding us with love and blessing. I pray that you feel his close presence in the coming days.

Every blessing.

Anne

A Prayer:

Dear God, we know that you have promised to be with us at all times and in all situations. As our world faces the Coronavirus pandemic, we ask for your help and blessing and mercy. We pray for your healing for all who are ill, your comfort for all who are mourning or afraid, and your guidance for all medical professionals and researchers working to cure this virus. And we pray for ourselves, that in this and every circumstance, we may be good caretakers of one another, in your name and for your sake. Amen.  

“St. Andrew’s: Building God’s Kingdom . . .”

In the Epistle to the Ephesians (2:19-22), we read, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”  In this short passage alone, the author uses three forms of “build” in his appeal to the now-Christian, formerly pagan people living in Ephesus – imploring them to remember their previous condition and reminding them to be grateful to God who brought them to their current condition. 

Like the people of Ephesus, we at St. Andrew’s might need an occasional reminder that the stability of our “building” (physical and metaphorical) depends upon its foundation “with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”  As we enter a second century, we stand firm in the knowledge that whatever may happen on earth, God and God’s “building” will be steadfast.  Trusting in the firmness of our foundation in Christ permits us to participate in God’s kingdom-building in a multitude of ways, never doubting God’s presence in every facet of our “building.”

As the vestry developed this new mission statement, I found intriguing the various ideas communicated by the word building, especially two specific connotations, which coordinate most appropriately with our two newest SAEC teams.  First, the Building Implementation Team envisions as its ultimate responsibility the careful and prayerful coordination of potential uses for our building, in the most concrete sense of the word.  At the same time, the Engaging the Climb team’s mission might be appropriately summarized as one seeking to ascertain how God is inviting and including us in the powerful mission of building God’s kingdom.

Lindsey Nicolai

Vestry member

New St. Andrew’s Mission Statement

As we enter a second century at St. Andrew's and begin to imagine all the possibilities for our new multipurpose outreach facility, the vestry developed and unanimously approved a new mission statement.  After almost a year of study and discussion, we are ready to share it with you. Please keep your eyes open for more information in upcoming communications!

St. Andrew's: Building God’s Kingdom through Worship, Outreach, and Fellowship

Eyes!

There are several "joys" of having had only one cataract surgery: do the old glasses work (not really), can you pop out one lens (didn’t work), do you try a pair of $1.00 glasses (some help), or do you just try to see without any helping lens (depends on what you are doing, especially if it involves a computer screen and other written material).  Hopefully after the second surgery, everything will come back into focus!

Lent is a time for focusing on the many facets of life: what we have to be thankful for, what we may need to repent of, how we can be more careful and thoughtful of others.  Our Wednesday evening Lenten study of Toxic Charity is going to focus on and then refocus our thoughts about charity.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 121(especially the King James Version) in which the psalmist uses his eyes to realize that our help comes from the Lord, that God is watching over us, and that he is always there with us.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,

from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the Lord,

which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:

he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is thy keeper:

the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:

he shall preserve thy soul.

The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in

from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Bill Wilds