Building God's Kingdom through
Worship, Outreach and Fellowship
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Today's prayer video:
A conversation: Gail and Anne
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Trinity Sunday
Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given to us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity,
and in the power of your divine Majesty
to worship the Unity:
Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship,
and bring us at last
to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father;
who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(BCP, p. 228)
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Youth Recognition Sunday – June 7
We are planning a special Youth Recognition Sunday via Zoom at 10:30 AM on June 7. Please join us for this chance to recognize both our graduating seniors and acolytes.
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Come to our online Church Social Sunday afternoon at 5 PM!
All are welcome!!
After the success of our online Zoom Pentecost Party, we are trying a new experiment this coming Sunday afternoon: an online Church Social! We hope that all of you will attend. The Church Social will run from 5 to 5:30 PM. Once we have all “arrived,” you will be randomly assigned to a small group for ten minutes. That will give you a chance to talk with a few other parishioners. After 10 minutes, you will randomly be assigned to a new small group, for another 10 minutes of conversation. We’ll do three rounds and end at 5:30. Want to participate? We hope so! All you need to do is join us online by 5 PM Sunday at this link:
The meeting ID is:
896 4888 2738
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Live on Zoom! The Historical Jesus, led by the Rev. John W. Herbst, PhD, continues tomorow night at 7 PM
Modern historians recognize that people develop their values and ideas in the context of the society from which they emerge. The same can be said about the historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth. Join us Thursday night as we continue this thought provoking series.
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When will we be able to worship together in the sanctuary?
Dear friends,
Thanks to the hard work of our Bishop Susan Haynes and the diocesan Re-Gathering Panel, we have received the guidelines that each parish in our diocese must follow in order to regather for worship in our buildings. The guidelines are available
here. They are extensive, as they should be.
Your vestry and staff, guided by our Health and Safety Officer Joel Duregger, will work together to ensure that we meet every part of the established guidelines. Our ultimate concern is safety—yours, ours, and those outside our church for whom our decision has ramifications.
Please note that no Episcopal Church in our diocese may re-open a building for worship until there has been a statewide 14-day consecutive decline in new COVID-19 cases. Other requirements include agreement among clergy and vestry about our readiness to regather; and approval from the Bishop of a detailed reopening plan. We at St. Andrew’s are beginning to work on creating that plan and meeting the various requirements outlined in the diocesan guidelines.
All of this is to say: we are not yet at a point when we can state a specific regathering date.
The only thing I can say for sure about timing is that the earliest
possible date would be sometime in late July, although I don’t think even that is
probable, given all that we need to consider and do before the building can reopen.
I know this is hard news—sad and disappointing and frustrating. I miss you, and I very much miss being able to worship God together in person in our beautiful sanctuary. I, too, feel sad and disappointed and frustrated.
I also feel
responsible. At our Celebration of New Ministry in May of 2017, when I was installed as your rector, I prayed:
May all the desires of my heart and will center in what you would have me do. Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care (BCP, 562). Each of you is precious—to God, and to me. The decision about when to regather in person for worship is not one that I or any of the other faithful leaders here at St. Andrew’s is taking lightly.
Please hold me and all of our vestry and staff in your prayers as we strive to prepare for an eventual return to our beloved building, and know that we are praying for you, as well. Remember that we continue to be the Church even while we are not able to gather. God is with us, wherever we are, even to the ends of the earth.
May you feel God’s love and presence surrounding you right now.
Every blessing. -Anne
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Seeking Parishioners to Help with Prayer Videos
One of the unrequested gifts of this pandemic is the opportunity (and challenge!) that it gives us to take ownership for our individual faith life in new ways. Unable to gather in person for worship, we worship online or in the privacy of our homes, perhaps making use of resources that we had never used before. For many, the pandemic experience has been a time of deepening faith and enhanced spiritual practices. Many of you have commented about how helpful the daily prayer videos have been.
Prayer is something all Christians do. As Episcopalians, we are blessed to have the rich resource of
The Book of Common Prayer, full of beautiful liturgies not only for public services but also for private and small group worship. Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline: all are part of the “Daily Office,” a cycle of worship that carries us through each day. None of those services requires a clergy person to lead them because they were meant for people to do daily, wherever they were, whether a clergy person was present or not.
Marc and I are hoping that some of you will be willing to help with the daily prayer videos Wednesdays and Fridays by offering to record a short prayer service, from one of the BCP liturgies or from some other source. In doing so, you will be an embodied reminder to all of us that praying and leading prayer are ministries to which every Christian is called; and you will be giving our congregation the gift of seeing your face and hearing your voice—a connection that we are all craving in this time of social distancing.
What exactly are you asking me to do?
You would video yourself (or your family) leading a prayer service of about 5-10 minutes in length, taken from the BCP or some other source. It could be for morning, noon, evening, night, or any other time. You do
NOT need to produce any kind of homily or remarks; you are simply leading prayer.
What worship materials do I need?
The Book of Common Prayer is a helpful resource, and many people have them at home. The
BCP can also be found online. Your Bible will come in handy, of course. And a google search for prayers will provide you with an infinite number of options.
I want to help but am not sure how to craft the service and/or to video and post. Is training available?
Yes. Bill Wilds can help you with any questions about the content of your prayer service and answer questions about the
BCP liturgies. Lindsey Nicolai is standing by to help with any technical questions about how to record your video and how to post it to Facebook.
When should I make my video?
Once we have heard from folks who are willing to help, Bill Wilds will create a schedule. Because these videos need to be recorded in advance, you can make your video at any time—several days ahead is fine.
What should I do if I want to participate?
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Pastoral Letter from our Bishop on the death of George Floyd
On June 1, Bishop Haynes issued a pastoral letter to the Diocese on the death of Mr. George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN.
"We cannot continue to be silent. Too long we have refused to receive the breath of the Holy Spirit. Martin Luther King, Jr. said "There comes a time when silence is betrayal." In our silence we have dismissed the the indiscriminate killing and violence levied on people of color, and especially African-Americans. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd are just the latest of a long list of people of color, known and unknown who have died because of our silence."
Click here to read Bishop Haynes' letter.
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A Wonderful Pentecost Service
Many thanks to those who shared their “linguistic skills” with us as part of our Pentecost service: Margaret Bivins (English); Linda Coffman, Larry Nicolai, Caroline Rous, and Karen Waddill (French); Dan Waddill (German); Rachel Klinger (Latin); Moonah Holman (Assyrian); Lindsey Nicolai (Spanish); Shannon McCall (Italian); John Herbst (Hebrew); and Kate Horning (signing). And, a very special thank you to Susan Sale for putting it all together so creatively.
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2020 Vacation Bible School
Our 2020 Vacation Bible School has been canceled. Many thanks to those of you who had volunteered to help this year.
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Congratulations on the birth of
Otis Bomar Horne
son of Sam and Katie Horne
grandson of Fritz and Vera Horne
born on June 1
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A Letter of Thanks from Interfaith Refugee Ministry, New Bern
Dear friends,
Interfaith Refugee Ministry gratefully acknowledges your generous donation of a laptop, tablets, and phones for use by the refugees we serve as part of our Stay at Home - Learn at Home program. Many refugees do not have tablets or computers at home. We will be able to use these for clients who are studying for citizenship or to provide cultural orientation or English as a Second Language tutoring. Some parents do not have phones for their children to use in case of emergencies. We hope to give the phones to them. Thank you so much for your generosity.
God bless you,
Susan Husson, Executive Director
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We're here for you!
What if I need to reach the parish clergy or staff?
You can reach us by email, even if we are working from home.
What if I have a pastoral emergency or know of someone else who is ill?
Call or text Anne directly at 804-687-5396!!
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Links to St. Andrew's digital resources:
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Other resources for worship at home:
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