“Being church” – Page 8 – St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Diocesan A.T. Camino

Many from our diocese got up early each morning to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail, after having received the hospitality of our fellow church members along the Way. It was a wonderful experience that stretched us in all ways and contributed greatly to our increased spirituality. The bishop led the way and we followed her over rocks, through pastures, deeper into the woods, and finally into good fun and fellowship at the end of the day.

St. Andrew’s hosted the whole group one night for dinner, worship, sleeping arrangements, and then a hearty breakfast in the morning.

Altar & Flower Guild Luncheon

Our Altar and Flower Guild Members are simply the best! They really are. They are dedicated, faithful ministers who understand the holiness of their work. They set the table (altar), wash the linens, fill the candles with oil, polish the brass, set out the bulletins for the altar party, prepare the bread and wine for service, arrange the flowers, and hold the space as sacred– and so much more.

We are very blessed that we have such a wonderful group of people involved in this ministry — and that they do it with joy and kindness. If you would like to join the group, please see Laura Bonanni or Mary Grace Shearer or Mother Barbara.

Each year Mother Barbara offers a luncheon for these members to thank them for their service. It is a time of gathering, catching up, laughing, deepening friendships, and then to go over the Altar Guild instructions to see if anyone has questions or suggestions on how things can work more smoothly.

Thank you, Altar Guild Members. You really are the best!

The Mystic in You

We understand that we are hard-wired to be in relationship with God and our theology tells us that God is active in our lives. Have you ever wondered how that happens? How God shows up? How we can be attentive to God’s presence? What helps us open ourselves to God?

These are all great questions and some which we explore in our book study on the book, The Mystic in You: Discovering a God-filled World. The author, Bruce Epperly defines a mystic as people who see holiness in everyday life. Wouldn’t you want to be one? Maybe you already are one?

Our conversation takes us into the world of people throughout the ages who have lived their lives this way and who can offer us insight and guidance. We looked at St. Francis of Assisi at our first session.

Here are the 4 practices offered for us to try, with St. Francis in mind —

Practice One: Finding God in the Nonhuman World

Recover reverence for life by meditating on Psalm 148, along with Francis’ Canticle to the Sun.

Breathe deeply the holiness of life. Let the air you breathe fill you with insight and energy and restore your sense of connection with all things. Take a beauty walk, opening your senses to God’s presence. Rejoice in the gifts of creation. Ask for God’s guidance in terms of how you might best respond to the crises of global climate change, species destruction, and economic and political upheaval.

Practice Two: A Gift to be Simple

Our faith calls us to simplify our lives so that others may simply live. Consider how to simplify your life. What do you need to pare away? In what ways can you live more simply? Where can you devote your resources to promote the well-being of the earth’s impoverished peoples? Consider the words from the Sermon on the Mount, along with Shaker hymn on a daily basis.

Practice Three: Welcoming People of Other Faiths

Observe your own and others’ prejudice toward persons of others faiths or no faith. In what ways do you show hospitality to the religious diversity in your community? What insights can you receive from persons of other faith traditions? Where can you contribute to reconciliation and healing among peoples of the earth? Take time to pray for people of other faith traditions, asking that they be blessed and you would discover your kinship with them.

Practice Four: Finding God in Unexpected Places

Make a commitment to reflect deeply on those who repel you. Ask God to help you see more deeply into their lives. Feast your eyes on humanity in all its variety. Look beyond appearances to see holiness in others. Listen to God speaking through their voices as you attune to god’s image within yourself and others. Pray the prayer attributed to St. Francis.

Please come to these sessions as we continue to explore and deepen our spirituality. The sessions are every other Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Mother Barbara’s home. The evening includes dinner (6 p.m.) then discussion (7-8 p.m.).

Youth Mini-Mission Event: Hiking Trail Clean up

Recently our young people gathered with friends and hiked on the AT (Appalachian Trail), enjoying a glorious day, entering into the beauty of God’s creation, exploring and playing in the nearby stream, climbing on a natural jungle-gym, and reflecting upon how God speaks to us through nature. It was a time of joy and embrace of the goodness we find in one another and in nature. We picked up trash as we went along, always trying to leave the place better than we found it. It’s amazing how we can fall into deeper friendships and closer relationships just by walking a trail together — but we did! Our Youth Mini-Mission Event program is designed to offer our young people (9-18) the opportunity to serve the world around them while reflecting on what our activities tell us about God and each other.

To view more photos of the event, please see the photo gallery on this website.

Celtic Spirituality

Each week, about 15 of us gather together, share a meal, listen to the reading of a book regarding Old Growth Forests, and then engage in a lively conversation around the content in John Phillip Newell’s book, Christ of the Celts, the Healing of Creation. This eloquent and poetic book shares with us the ideals and truths of Celtic Spirituality, such as we are all made in the image of God, we are God’s beloved, and we are intrinsically connected to all of creation and God’s creatures. The strongest words of this past evening’s reading was that it is only love, not judgment, but love which transforms us.

Our conversations are deep, insightful, and sacred. You are always welcome to join this special and holy gathering.

Youth Pre-Confirmation Class

Every month our young people gather to ask remarkable questions and to learn about our Eucharistic service. We work our way through the Eucharistic service, this past Sunday learning about and creating our own Opening Acclamation and Collect (collecting prayer). Here’s an example of our young people’s great work:

Opening Acclamation —

Celebrant: Bow down and open your arms to the Lord; Let your soul be open to God; and thank the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins.

People: We open our souls and feel happy. The forgiveness of sins is glorious!

The most important part of the class is when they are encouraged to ask any questions on their hearts. Their hands shoot into the air, with their minds racing, and their hearts wanting to know more about God than ever. They ask questions such as “Who created God?” or “Did those miracles really happen?”

This is an alive and energized group of young people who want to know God and know about God. How blessed we are!

Vestry Retreat 2018

Last Saturday our parish leadership, rector and vestry members gathered with The Rev. Canon Dan Morrow, the Diocesan staff person responsible for Congregational Development and Missional Life to hold our parish in prayer, celebrate the Eucharist together, and to focus on the parish’s primary tasks of Gather, Transform, and Send. We learned the specific aspects of each of these tasks, discussing our current ministry in each of those areas and being attentive to where our energy to strengthen these areas may lie.

We then studied Anglican identity and temperament and shared our responses to what aspect suited us most. Our top choices were mystical in our Anglican identity and open-minded in our temperament.

We left with energy and enthusiasm to bring this process of discernment of identity and purpose to our parish. More to come!

Sharing of the Sacred

Our young people are amazing and have the ability to see the holy around, among, and within them. We wanted them to have an opportunity to share all this with their bishop, Audrey Scanlan, during her visit with us on Sunday.

Using a format that involved sharing, silence, meditative chanting, and the ringing of a singing bowl, children and adults gathered together to share the sacred in their lives and in their church experience. Themes of finding God in comfort, love, peace, wholeness, and in nature came from our hearts. It was clear that the children find God often and in many places, including in our church, through their offering of their musical talents, through the people near them, through the support others have given them, through the safety of the community, through the proximity to the altar, through their service as acolytes, and through the hearts of others. One young person said that when she sings in front of the congregation, it is clear to her that God is looking back at her through all the people gathered.

How blessed we are that we have young people who are being formed well in their faith, with eyes opened to the presence of God within, around, and among them. Thank you to all who support our young people in their faith formation. I believe it’s making a big difference to them — and to us!

Bishop Scanlan’s Visit

It seemed appropriate that the gospel text for the day of the Bishop’s visit was on Jesus’ mountaintop experience which transfigured him and transformed the disciples in their understanding of Jesus’ identity and their shared mission. That’s what happened yesterday when Bishop Audrey Scanlan led us in worship, confirmed those ready to commit anew to their faith, blessed a parish member and resident of The Episcopal Home who wanted to reaffirm her faith, engaged in the sharing of stories and experiences of the sacred, and met with our vestry. It was a mountaintop experience for us all! We left, coming down from the mountain, changed and clearer of who we have become as a parish and what God has placed on our hearts to do. We all offered the depth and breath and best of ourselves to God and each other — and the Holy Spirit gathered us all together to bring God’s glory into our world.

We are so grateful for our bishop’s pastoral guidance and leadership and her ability to enter fully into our life as a parish and to enhance it.

We offer our congratulations and blessings upon the people who were confirmed or who reaffirmed their faith yesterday:

Emma Eshleman
Cameron Gilbert
Bramley Hawkins
Della Hawkins
Shannon O’ Donnell
Zachary Rhodes
Laurel White
Dolly Koehler

One of the very meaningful parts of our bishop’s visit was the time she spent with our younger members. We gathered in a circle and shared an object that is special to us and why and then shared where we each find God at St. Andrew’s. After each person’s sharing, we entered into a time of silence, then chanting, which seemed to draw us ever closer to each other and with God. What was remarkable and stunning to me was that all of our young people seemed to speak so naturally about finding God at St. Andrew’s. It was as though this is the most natural thing in the world. For many of us, it is. But for some, those two things, spirituality and the institutional church, don’t always come together. I feel blessed that we at St. Andrew’s are forming our young people to expect to discover God in what they do here at church and in the people gathered. One of the most touching responses for me was when one of our young people mentioned that when they stand up in front of the congregation to sing, they are aware of God looking back at them through the people in the pews.

The bishop spent time getting to know the vestry members and exploring what the term missional means. This word takes the more familiar concept of outreach and expands and extends it to speak of experiences where all those involved are changed and transformed. There is a mutuality of growth that happens when we move from doing something FOR someone to doing something WITH someone in such a way we are all changed and our lives are enhanced.

I know the bishop’s visit is one day which is etched in my heart, now and through all eternity. This is what church is all about. Many blessings, Mother Barbara

Vestry Orientation

Last Saturday your newly elected vestry and ongoing members met to begin the process of forming as a group and of engaging the faithful work ahead. There was amazing energy and enthusiasm as we began to find our rhythm of working together and embracing our leadership roles.

Here are some highlights we discussed or action decided:

There’s a group of vestry members who will work with Chad Linder, our Diocesan Canon for Financial Operations, to learn about grant and loan opportunities from the diocese and how they may connect to funding our current or future ministries.
We are preparing for our day-long Vestry Retreat on 2/24 which will be facilitated by Dan Morrow, the Diocesan Canon for Congregational Life and Mission. The purpose of this retreat is to begin the conversation and process to discern with increased clarity the parish’s identity, purpose, and mission. We will learn a process that we can then take out to the parish.
Each vestry meeting will begin or end with one member sharing a meaningful spiritual practice with the group. It can be as simple as a particularly important prayer from the BCP or it can be chanting, yoga, meditation, or listening to music that lifts your soul.
One of of our goals is to create regular and transparent financial reporting at the vestry meetings and to the congregation. The Treasurer (Ken Dotson) and Mother Barbara will begin our work to accomplish this goal in the next month.
A Vestry member will share with the congregation each month the highlights of our vestry meeting as an announcement during church the Sunday following our meeting.

We all came away from the orientation better informed, energized about our leadership role, and with a sense of purpose and motion moving forward. We are very blessed to have these members serve in this capacity.

Pre-Confirmation Class Session #1

Today we began our Pre-Confirmation Class– and boy, were we delighted and amazed (once again) at our young people — what they’re interested in, the questions they have, and their already deep understanding of worship.

We were blessed that Dean Robyn Szoke was with us to help facilitate the conversation about the beginning part of our Holy Eucharist Service, touching on the topics of: how we come into worship, how (and by whom) are we welcomed, and the Collect for Purity (who says it and why).

Each young person contributed to the conversation and they busily wrote their amazing questions and thoughts in their special journals provided for them.

What was best of all though were their questions! It was so great to offer them the safe space to ask all the burning questions on their hearts. That makes me so happy that we have young people who are thinking and wondering and coming to us to ask our thoughts.

I also introduced them to the exercise they will do with the Bishop when she is here in two weeks. I have asked each one to bring with them something from home that is sacred. We talked about what that word “sacred” means and they came up with the definition of something that’s special or important. With this item to share, they are then going to offer why it is sacred to them. After everyone has shared (including me and the bishop), we will give the young people an opportunity to tell the bishop what it is about church that is sacred (special or important) to them, whether it’s taking communion to the residents of The Episcopal Home, or playing their musical instrument, or being an acolyte, or washing feet on Maundy Thursday. I am so happy our bishop will get to know these amazing young people.

Our next Pre-Confirmation Class will be on February 25th at 11:15 a.m. in the upstairs PLC. Parents and grandparents are always welcome to come to the class too!

Egg money collection

We have an ongoing ministry of providing $75.00 to SPO (Shippensburg Produce Outreach) each month so they can purchase fresh eggs for their clients. This is a long-standing tradition at our parish to reach out and provide fresh food for our neighbors.

This past month we collected $124.00 which will be sent off to SPO, exceeding our monthly commitment! It is such a blessing to be able to respond to the generosity of God by, in turn, being a generous and caring parish which finds ways to make a difference in the lives of others. Thank you!