Category: “Being church”

Christmas Eve Services

The birth of Jesus was illuminated to us by our faithful and joyful worship on Christmas Eve. The family service was filled with families with young children as well as families whose children were once young, and worshiping here at St. Andrew’s every year is part of their family tradition, bringing back wonderful memories.

Our young people led the service with being the readers of the Holy Scripture, the narrators of the pageant, instrumentalists, and homilist. It was spectacular. It is so wonderful to see our young people really stretch themselves to offer God’s truth among us in their voices and musical talents. They seem to understand church is a place where they can be safe enough to answer the call set within them by God to be instruments of God’s grace and love. We were blessed by the St. Andrew’s Christmas Eve Choir and a soul-stretching solo by Lisa Turchi.

Our “Midnight Mass” was glorious in a whole different way. There is often a peace that settles over us as we bring our hearts into the new day, when new life and love was offered to humankind in a whole new way through the birth of Jesus. Two solos were offered and touched our hearts.

It was indeed a very holy night.

Blue Christmas Service

We began our beautiful service tonight with the following prayer:

God of abundant mercy, you have given us grace to pray with one heart and one voice, even though our hearts are broken and our voices tremble with grief and sorrow. Comfort, comfort, Lord, your holy people. Comfort those of us who sit in darkness, mourning beneath our sorrow’s load. Speak to us of the peace that awaits us, of the balm of healing for our weary and wounded souls. We ask all this, trusting in the promise you have made to hear the prayers of two or three who have gathered in the Name of your Holy Child, Jesus. Amen.

This prayer gathered our thoughts, drew us together in love, and offered us the space to allow our most vulnerable selves to be present to God and to each other.

Our worship service today was meditative, moving, and healing as we came forward to offer our deepest pains and most fervent prayers to the healing grace of God. The music from the harp soothed our souls and and lifted our hearts as we sat in prayer and in the beauty of our sanctuary. There was great meaning in writing the names of the people whom we love but see no more or the deepest prayers from our souls on stars, which we then hung on the Advent tree. We were very blessed too to welcome new people into our worship. God’s mercy and grace abounded.

Our closing blessing offers us much wisdom and direction in how to faithfully live our lives:

The Blessing My friends, life is short, and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who make this earthly pilgrimage with us, so be swift to love, and make haste to do kindness, and the blessing of God, who comes to us as Creative Presence, Saving Grace and Life-giving Spirit be upon you and all whom you love this night, and forever more.

Candlelight vigil for Brian Helman

In the beauty of our candlelit sanctuary, in the midst of people from within and beyond our parish community, in the “active and alive” silence shared by people in prayer, and in companionship of grief, we prayed for Brian Helman, our church musician who was severely injured two weeks ago. This prayer vigil was organized as an effort of love with Brian’s family, St. Andrew’s, the Cumberland Valley School of Music. This time of silent prayer felt like a thin place, for Brian was in a liminal space, between life and death, and we could join him as we joined our hearts with God, who holds us all.

To read the collection of prayers, poems, and lyrics gathered specifically for this time of prayer, please click on the resource below.

Candlelight-VigilDownload

We are so grateful to all whose hearts were opened by this time together, whose prayers were offered in love and hopefulness, and whose souls were changed by this encounter with God in community.

Head Start Very Merry Christmas

Each year, our parish collects presents for a family who participates in the Head Start Program. It is such a joyful time to sign up for what we can offer and jump into the Christmas spirit and purchase all sorts goodies for the family. This year we were able to purchase gifts for a mom and her 8 month old son. What fun it was to shop in the baby department!

We are grateful that members of our church live out their faith by helping those in need.

Holy Hike

Today, with the temperature only 41 degrees, we gathered and hiked, in the midst of the beauty of God’s creation and in friendship. Our youth were tasked with finding the right place to share communion. And they found the perfect spot.

Our young people read the lessons, led the prayers, led us in the Holy Eucharist service. Mother Barbara consecrated the elements but the young people did everything else. We listened to a story which spoke about tolerance and hearing all peoples’ perspectives and tied that into the scripture passage from Isaiah where God is building something new for the Israelites.

Theresa distributed the bread and Parker offered the wine and we shared some people moments in communion with Christ and each other.

It was a wonderful way to spend part of the afternoon.

Veteran’s Day Celebration

Today we raised our hearts in thanksgiving for our veterans, those who have served our country and made sacrifices so that we may enjoy the freedoms offered to us today, to service the Prince of Peace.

As always, we began with a prayer: Almighty God, you are our strength and our shield. We give you thanks for the men and women of our armed forces, past and present. And we remember all who have died that we may live, all who endured pain that we might know joy, all who made sacrifices that we might have plenty, all who suffered imprisonment that we might know freedom. May their sacrifices serve the cause of peace, and may our nation be ever grateful for their service. With your wisdom and strength guide the leaders of our nation, and give to all nations a desire for justice and peace. Turn our deep feeling now into determination, and our determination into deed, that as men and women died for peace, we may live for peace for the sake of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Our church was adorned by lap robes made by our own St. Andrew’s Quilters who over the years have lovingly created over 500 quilts which are distributed to the residents of the VA Hospitals.

We were then blessed by a presentation by Pat Bonanni around his experience and passion for caring for our veterans. We told stories, shared his knowledge of and admiration for those who have served our country, and especially those who served during WWII. We were all inspired and touched by all he offered.

And then our parishioner Frank Mazzacua was presented a Quilt of Valor by the local chapter of this national group. We were all so proud to be there with him and for him and to thank him for his service.

It was a glorious day of celebration.

Taize Service

We gathered in silence, candlelight and love to share a meaningful and soul-touching service. The Taize music, led by Brian Helman, Lisa Turchi, and Carenda Baker settled into our souls and brought us to the quiet place where we were able to “Be still and know that I am God”. We celebrated a Holy Eucharist that was simple in form yet deep in meaning. There was a strong sense of communion and peace which filled the space and our hearts.

We then moved into the Parish Life Center for a reception of soup, bread, cheese, salad, and amazing French apple pies.

Repair of our Sidewalks

For a long time now, our sidewalks along Prince Street have been uneven and a real hazard to people who pass by our church and for us who walk them every Sunday. Thanks to our very pro-active Junior Warden, Jane Offner, we now have even and safe sidewalks! This is one of many projects accomplished this year. We have also: 1) repaired our roof, 2) repaired and sealed the basement, 3) repointed the front steps, 4) repaired our air conditioning unit, and 5) added a dishwasher booster unit.

Future projects planned with money approved for them are the creation and installation of a sign (one which will match the Episcopal Home sign), and convert lighting in the sanctuary to LED lighting.

We are so blessed with a beautiful building and welcoming grounds. It is a wonderful thing that we can be good stewards of them.

Confirmation Class

Each month, our young people gather together to prepare their hearts and minds for the commitment of Confirmation– that Sacramental Rite when they affirm their baptismal vows and become adult members of our parish. Our curriculum this year is centered around the Episcopal Church’s The Way of Love, the seven spiritual practices that can help us to follow Jesus. This past month our young people learned about the spiritual practice of God. Their activity was drawing their image of God, for how we imagine and name God tells us actually a great deal of what we believe of God and/or what we have experienced of God. This class meets every 4th Sunday of the month from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. All young people are welcome. They can bring friends too!

Instructed Eucharist

Engaging in the sacrament of Holy Eucharist is central to the lives of all Christians and is offered each week in the Episcopal Church. Part of our joy and responsibility as Christians is to enter more fully into this sacrament, to meet with intention and awareness the Presence of Christ, and to dwell in the holiness which nourishes, sustains, and saves us.

This past Sunday we offered an Instructed Eucharist, which meant two things: 1) the bulletin contained information about several key parts of the Eucharistic prayer, highlighting some of the history and tradition around the prayer’s origin or use. 2) a verbal invitation to one’s heart and soul at various times during the prayer to settle into what our hearts are celebrating at that actual moment. We came away from worship both “knowing with our head” more about this sacramental ritual and “knowing with our heart” the living and loving God with whom we enter into communion.

To read the script and to learn more about the sacrament, please click below.

Script-for-IEDownload

If you would like to learn more about this sacrament or to share your experiences of engaging with the Holy Eucharist, please see Mother Barbara or Dina Carter-Ishler, our Field Placement Intern.

Ways to Pray Series

We gathered in companionship and prayer, seeking a deeper connection with each other and with God. This past week, we were guided in conversation and spirituality by Deacon Marsha Roscoe, a Lutheran Deacon and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of our Diocesan Stevenson School for Ministry.

We began our conversation by sharing how we name God in our prayers, for that can tell us a great deal about what we believe about God. We also shared, of course, that often God is beyond naming, and we understand God to be a great mystery that somehow we are blessed to be in relationship with, through an open flow of love and mercy.

Since our course is revolving around the Ways to Pray, we share our current prayer practices as well as our resistances to the disciplines of prayer.

It was a rich time of sharing and growing. One key concept from our time together is that spiritual growth happens within us when we set intention and awareness to our prayer life. Spiritual transformation happens by God. We have a particular role in developing our spirituality (intention, awareness, commitment) and all of that then opens the space for God to transform us more into the likeness of Christ.

All are welcome to attend our Wednesday evening formation sessions. We gather at Mother Barbara’s home between 5:30 and 6 p.m., share a meal together, and then begin our conversation at 7 p.m.