Worship, Outreach and Fellowship

There is a saying that makes the rounds on Facebook here and there, attributed to the Dalai Lama or with no attribution at all. Regardless, it rings true: "The issue we have to deal with today is that people were made to be loved and things were made to be used, but now things are loved and people are being used." It is reminiscent of what Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has often said: "If it’s not about love, it’s not about God!" In fact, we learn from 1 John 4:8 that God is love.

Every aspect of our lives having been thrown into chaos, with much normal activity curtailed and priorities shifting seemingly sometimes by the hour, it can make it difficult to keep perspective on what our activity and priorities are supposed to be about in the first place. Too often the gospel is used for political or personal gain rather than for its inherent purpose: the proclamation of the good news of God in Christ Jesus; the love of God and neighbor as self.

Life sure has its moments! Regardless of what swirls around us, I hope the simplicity of the gospel message grounds us in love, because if it is not about that, it is not about God!  - Marc

It has been a long and strange 2020 since we last met as a Bible study group. We are going to start up again on Thursday, Sept. 24th, at 10:00. We will meet in the Parish Hall, masked, sitting 6 feet apart. It won't be cozy, but it will be in person! Hand sanitizer will be available. Please bring your own bible, if you so choose, and a copy of The Upper Room, if you happen to have one. We are going to use questions and passages suggested by The Upper Room as the basis for our lessons. It will be so nice to carefully socialize and discuss scripture together again. If you have questions please contact Margaret Bivins: [email protected] You are welcome any week you would like to come.

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82990532931

As we slowly and carefully begin to schedule small group gatherings in the building, please remember to let me know so that I can check the church calendar and reserve your meeting location. Pre-pandemic everyone was in the habit of doing this but for months it hasn't been needed since the building was closed.

And to all of you "Zoomers" out there: I have begun putting scheduled zoom meetings on the calendar also, so even though you don't need to reserve a physical meeting location, let me know your plans and I will add those meetings to the calendar as well with the notation that they will take place via zoom.

Thanks everyone! Rachel [email protected]

Our 2021 Stewardship campaign will kick off with an opening video from Doug Burgoyne, our Stewardship chair, on Sunday, September 27. Doug will be asking parishioners to speak each Sunday in October, as part of our Sunday services, or to write a Stewardship article for the October newsletters. Sunday, November 1 will be Stewardship Ingathering Sunday and our pledge cards will be blessed on Sunday, November 8.

The 2021 Stewardship packets were mailed on September 21. If you do not receive yours, please call the church office (595-0371) and we will send you one.

Let us celebrate this time of appreciation for all the blessing we enjoy as we “give together.”

As you read in the last issue of our newsletter, Marc has been busy interviewing and accepting groups to use our former day school space. One of the other functions of the Building Implementation Team is to get these spaces ready for use. With the closing of the school, we had at least four boxes of textbooks for each grade level in addition to many other school supplies. There were laptop computers, iPads, computers, multiple computer related items, and yes, stuff.

With the help of Bill Blount, who spent hours going through every room and cabinet cataloging the electronic equipment, we have been able to provide: iPads (and some cellphones parishioners donated) to a refugee program in New Bern, North Carolina; iPads and computers to staff members; and laptops to Boys’ Home in Covington, Virginia. Donnie Wheatley, the Executive Director of Boys’ Home, is still effusively talking about the laptops – when the governor closed public school throughout the state, the younger boys each got a laptop to use when they began classes on campus.

Probably 95% of the textbooks and related materials have also gone to Boys’ Home where they will be used as supplemental material for the boys. BIT has also “enriched” (enriched to them, we’re glad it’s gone!!!) school classrooms and libraries at Trinity Lutheran, Gloria Day Lutheran, and First United Methodist. With thanks to Tonia Graves, we have also taken non-educational items to such places as Goodwill, Peninsula Rescue Mission, and others. Mary Poole, Dorothy Burch, and I had a great day cleaning out the art room. Our accuracy of dropping discarded items in the trash can two stories below the art room window was 99.9%!

We have had a couple of calls about buying some of the school furniture and whether or not we were planning to get rid of all the books in the library. BIT is not selling at this time – actually, much of it is being used. We did cull some of the library books that were well used, and some of them have gone to be available for youngsters who don’t have access to books. We could use a couple of folks to help straighten up the shelves, reshelve some books, and do some dusting. Please contact Bill Wilds 595-0371 or [email protected] to volunteer.

Are we finished?  Not quite. We still have some electric items and we’re looking for folks who have a VHS player that still works!!!  We have 17 boxes of VHS tapes that we thought we had found a home for – but alas, no! We have separated out the Disney movies for those who might want them. If you know any organization that might be able to use the tapes, which cover a wide variety of educational subjects, please let us know. Or, if you know anyone who could just use the plastic casings, let us know that also. At the moment, we also have some orange and purple pumpkins for anyone who wants them. If you would like to come by one morning to rummage through the boxes and to look at the electronic items, call Bill. -Bill Wilds

You have two options:

Sometime Sunday morning, we hope that you will take time to pray through the Holy Eucharist booklet that we will be sending you. Shortly after our online service ends (around 11:30 AM), a fellow parishioner will come to your door with the bread and wine. Your visitor will lead you through the litany found on the next page. (Notice that you already know all of the responses, so you do not need to be holding a copy of the litany.)

For safety, your visitor will remain masked at all times, and you will wear your mask until time to consume the elements. Your visitor will step away briefly when you open and consume the bread and wine.

Please note that your visitor will be bringing communion to other parishioners as well and so cannot stay more than a few minutes with you. He or she will not come into your home.

We will again be offering Holy Eucharist on October 4th—at the River Road doors from 12 to 2 PM and by delivery to those who have let us know they would like to receive at home. October 4 is also the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the natural environment. In honor of St. Francis, we will be offer animal blessings from 12 to 2 PM that afternoon. How will that work, you ask? One of our clergy will be at the River Road doors, distributing Holy Eucharist; and the other will be in front of the Main Street doors, blessing animals. In both locations, everyone will be masked and will maintain social distancing. Hanging out for some socially-distanced socializing time with humans and furry friends at the Main Street doors is encouraged! See you (and your fuzzy friends) on October 4th!

Women of the Word Bible study will begin again October 7th at 6:30. Once again this will be online with Zoom. We are blessed to have The Rev. Anne Kirchmier teach the classes, and with Zoom we are able to have class discussion. This session we will study The Letters of Paul, a Bible study in the Discipleship series that we have enjoyed many times. Participants will use study guides to prepare for each class. Gloria Brooks has ordered the books for us, so let her know if you plan to join us. We will need your email address to send the Zoom link to you each week. This group study is open to all women, so please do join us and bring a friend.

Peggy Woodall, [email protected]

Gloria Brooks, [email protected]

Beginning in October, a six-week Grief Recovery Handbook Study will be offered via Zoom. Grief Recovery defines grief as the normal and natural human response to change. For better or worse, change involves loss. We're pretty good at celebrating adding things to our lives, and not so good at routinely cleansing, healing, or processing things when we experience change, particularly when it involves loss. The experience of life during COVID, the death of a beloved human or pet, change in job, home, school, partner, health or economic status can all cause grief. Grief Recovery provides simple action steps to become a cleansing/healing machine and live a lighter, happier life. This study will also give you new skills in responding to losses in others' lives and can be the foundation or expansion of a healing ministry in your parish.

There are three opportunities to participate in this study which will be facilitated by the Rev. Sarah Shirley, interim rector of St. Luke's in Powhatan and a Grief Recovery Outreach Specialist. Click here for more information and registration.

Prayer requests from round 8 of our phone call ministry 

Even in the midst of the pandemic, the life of the church continues on. We will hold our Annual Congregational Meeting on December 13 and are currently working out the details--streaming? live? a combination? Stay tuned. It is likely that our voting for vestry members will be via mail-in ballot, and we will send you more information about that in coming weeks. Meanwhile, now is the time to submit names for vestry nominees. We need four people to become the vestry class of 2023, and one of them may be you. Nominations need to be submitted by November 2nd. Please see the attached form for information about eligibility, expectations, and how to nominate yourself or someone else.

John and I will be using up the last of my 2020 vacation time from Monday, Sept 21 through Friday, Oct 2, staying at a beach-side condo near Ocean City, Maryland. Having stayed close to home through the first part of the pandemic, Marc and I are working together to coordinate our schedules so that both of us are able to make use of our allotted vacation and continuing education days. Time away for rest and play (vacation) and for renewal, restoration, and learning (retreat/continuing education) help keep clergy healthy and centered. I am grateful for those blessings; and for the privilege of serving in your midst.

–Anne

The pandemic has been, shall we say, disruptive. Our timeline for Leticia and Elizabeth to join us here is now the end of October/beginning of November. I've been in serious housing explorations for a few weeks now, working with a realtor and considering all options. For any number of reasons, we have determined that we are going to rent, at least for a while. While still in exploration mode, I'm wondering if anyone in the St. Andrew's realm might have or know of decent rental options of a three bedroom dwelling (that won't cost us an exorbitant amount). If anything comes to mind, please give me a call at 812-764-0355. Thanks so much! - Marc

Here is the list of items we will be collecting:

If you prefer to make a monetary donation rather than bringing in items, this will also be gratefully appreciated by THRIVE. You can make your check payable to St. Andrew’s with “THRIVE September” in the memo section.

You can reach us by email, even if we are working from home.

Anne: [email protected]

Marc: [email protected]

Rachel: [email protected]

Bill W.: [email protected] 

While Anne is away, call or text Marc directly at 812-764-0355 .