Worship – Page 5 – St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Palm Sunday

We celebrated Palm Sunday in a very different way, but it was not a “less than” experience, and in many ways, it became a “more than” experience.

Some of the responses I heard to the Palm Sunday pre-recorded service were, “I felt like I was with my whole parish family”, “It was wonderful!”, “BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL. Hearing you say the Palm Sunday service is the woods was wonderful. I felt like I was there with you”, “It brought tears to my eyes”.

It is our hope that you are worshiping with us, not merely “watching” the service, but allowing your heart to be changed through it. This may take some time for you to make that adjustment — but one thing that can help is for you to be involved in the pre-recorded service. There are many opportunities for you to be one of the lectors, or offer your musical gifts, or lead part of the service. If you are interested, please email me at rector@standrewsship.org.

We encouraged everyone to discover something from their own yard or context that they would use for palms and to process through their house or in their woods, and offer a litany of blessing of their spaces, so we can expand our understanding that our space which we live in is holy space, just like the space in our sanctuary. Here are some photos of doors or mailboxes decorated with the expression of palms on Palm Sunday that worked best for them.

Proclaiming “Hosanna in the highest” in a new way.

To engage in the worship of Palm Sunday, please click here.

To bless your living spaces, please click below.

Litany-of-Blessing-the-Home-2 Download

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Canon Chris Streeter’s Visit

We were blessed by the presence of The Rev. Canon Chris Streeter this past Sunday. Chris serves on the bishop’s staff as our Canon for Mission Formation and innovation and is leading the Diocesan initiative of Shaped by Faith. It was a joy to have Chris as our Celebrant and Preacher as he led us in an exploration of “love as the great Christian disrupter” of our lives. Chris was able to visit with our members during coffee hour and then to meet with the vestry as he shared more information on Shaped by Faith and how we may engage with this initiative as we move forward as a parish. For more information on Shaped by Faith, please click here. https://diocesecpa.org/shapedbyfaith/

An Invitation to a Holy Lent

We gathered at several times and in several different ways to answer the invitation to a holy Lent. Through the poignant and meaningful words of our service in the Book of Common Prayer and through the imposition of ashes at our healing service, downtown at our “Ashes to Go” station, and then this evening in the holiness of our sanctuary, we felt our hearts drawn to the hard and holy work of Lent. As always, our young people participate in the service at real depth, sharing the leadership of the service, imposing ashes, and opening their heart to the restoration God offers to all of us.

We begin this journey of Lent into the wilderness, that wild yet wholly alive place of transformation, so that when we shout our Alleluia’s on Easter morning, we can in truth and humility, that God has transformed our souls during this pilgrimage into healing and wholeness.

Shrove Tuesday Party

We took a trip to New Orleans (our PLC) for Mardi Gras, great food, great music and a whole lot of fun. Our local Town Jazz Band delighted us at this event which got us in the mood to celebrate, before we enter this time of inward reflection and repentance. We began at 5:30 p.m. with marvelous food, some real down-home Louisiana cooking with a Dixieland beat. When you think you can’t eat anymore, the Beignets, hot and loaded with sugar and Cafe’ Au Lait will come out of the Cafe Du St. Andrew’s.

We ended the evening with the burning of the palms from last year for ashes tomorrow. It was a holy and meaningful time, especially as we began this ceremony with this prayer —

These palm leaves represent the hopes and joys of Holy Week from last year. They will now become the ashes of remembrance and repentance from those places in the past year that we did not live up to being the people God calls us to be. Each year, each day, each minute, we have the opportunity to turn toward God, and begin again.

Our Bishop’s Visit

Our Bishop’s visit. We are blessed today with our bishop’s presence among us. Although she is often here for other events or meetings, today is her official bishop visit with us which happens every two years. Our bishop is our shepherd and chief pastor so her visit with us is an opportunity for us to get to know each other better, to experience worship together, and for us to share our passions around God’s mission here in Shippensburg, and to learn more about the diocese. We invite you all to a reception immediately following the 10 a.m. service. After our fellowship time, Bishop Scanlan will meet with Mother Barbara and your vestry members.

Confirmation of our Young People. We were blessed by our bishop as she gave our young people two choices for confirmation this year: 1) confirmation during her official episcopate visit (once every 2 years) and 2) a service in the fall where our young people will assume integral liturgical roles and the service will be an intimate celebration of their affirmation of their adult faith. The second option allowed for continued formation of our young people as they had not yet completed their more formal confirmation preparation. That service will be on November 5^th and we invite the congregation to be a part of this special time.

We celebrate with all our young people and acknowledge and affirm their walk in faith. Today, our young people who will be prayed over and blessed in preparation for their continued confirmation preparation are: Jonathan Luo, Julia Rhodes, Alexander Smeltz, and James Williams. Our young people who will be confirmed today are: Sarah Brooks and Neiley O’Donnell. We give praise and thanksgiving to God for their presence here among us and their faithful example of growing into the love of Christ.

Confirmation of our adults. We are incredibly blessed that both Donna Harpster and Juanita Mills are being confirmed in the Episcopal Church and becoming official members of our parish. We are delighted to welcome them into our part of the Body of Christ and rejoice of their presence and commitment to faithful living.

Taize Contemplative Service

We gathered in candlelight, turned our hearts toward the holiness drawn near to us by the harpist, and settled into holy and sacred space. Through chanting, prayer, quiet, intimacy, and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, we found a new expression of the love of God made real to us in community.

We offer these Taize Contemplative Eucharists on the first Saturday of every other month as a way to draw those of us who find God through contemplative practices in community as a pathway to wholeness.

We share a light supper afterwards so that we can continue the communion shared in the Eucharist.

All are always welcome!

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-Vigil Download

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.

Taize Worship service

In the vesper light, in the presence of the Spirit, in the calling of our hearts through music deeper into the holy, we gathered together to experience God in the simplicity of prayer, chant, silence, and communion. It was a time of a gathering of hearts turned toward God and it was beautiful.

We then gathered for an amazing dinner, so we could carry the sense of communion into our community. Our hosts for the evening meal, Susan and Keith, brought their warmth and deep generosity into their offering and the feeling of hospitality spread among us. Thank you to everyone who made this such a meaningful event and one where God was praised through our opened hearts.

Please see our photo gallery on this worship service and reception on this website to get the spirit of the event. We all loved this so much we’ll do it again, probably often, so if you have an interest in this simple, quiet type of service, plan to come to the next one, please. You are always welcome!

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!

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!

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!