Sunday, January 6, The Epiphany of Our Lord

The Holy Eucharist, 8 a.m., Rite I
The Holy Eucharist 10 a.m., Rite II

Church School at 10 a.m.
Child Care 9:45 a.m.

Fr. Morsch is officiating at both services.
Worship notes
 
The Collect:
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only son to the peoples of earth; Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. A men.
 
This week’s lessons: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1 - 12
 
The Epistle:
“This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.” Ephesians 3:11-12
The Gospel | Matthew 2: 1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
`And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Week of January 6

Monday, 6:30 p.m., Girl Scout Troop 816
Tuesday, 10 a.m., Healing Eucharist
Tuesday, 10:30 a.m., Julian of Norwich Prayer Group
Tuesday, 11:30 a.m., Charlie’s Lunch Bunch, Sugo’s in Edwardsville
Wednesday, 8 a.m., Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Rector Announces Office Hours

Parishioners who would like to meet with Fr. Morsch will find him in his office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m beginning January 8. Contact him directly to schedule an appointment. His cell phone number is (941) 773-6018.
January 20 th Annual Meeting to Feature Elections and Reports

A record seven Mission Leadership Team (MLT) vacancies will be filled at the 2019 Annual Meeting. Anyone who would like to be a candidate and has not told Senior Warden Kevin Babb of his or her interest needs to contact him by January 6 th .

Other important Annual Meeting business includes the election of Synod and Deanery delegates and receiving 2018 activity summaries from ministry heads and parish officials in the Annual Report.
St. Andrew's Contributes to Fall UTO Ingathering

Eighteen churches in the Diocese of Springfield donated a total of $5,470.59 in the 2018 Fall Ingathering. St. Andrew’s contributed $1,113.81 and received a thank you note from UTO Coordinator Joyce C. Wright.

The funds will support the 2019 United Thank Offering Grant theme: Go: crossing boundaries created by race, culture and economics to create communities that listen deeply and learn to live like Jesus.

UTO Grant applications are due by March 1 and must be for start-up costs for a new ministry, or for seed money for full or part-time start-up positions for a new ministry.
The Good Book Club: Paul's Letter to the Romans
Reading for Epiphany!

Each day during Epiphany, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Episcopalians around the world will be reading Paul's Letter to the Romans, a small section of the Book of Romans. This project is coordinated by Forward Movement as a way of exploring Christ’s redeeming love, as well as learning about life in the early church and central principles of our Christian faith. The Good Book Club offers an opportunity to dive deeply into scripture and create a daily practice of engagement with God’s Word. More information is available on St. Andrew's website at standrews-edwardsville.com.
Our Pioneering Women

Episcopal Church Women U.S.A., the national framework for our ECW, was established in 1985 but, by then, the women of St. Andrew’s had been active and playing a constructive role in the church and wider community for over a century. Responding to a decision of the Synod of 1883, St. Andrew’s women organized in 1886 what was long known as “The St. Andrew’s Guild,” but that had simply attached a label to an already flourishing enterprise.

Seven years before, St. Andrew’s women were instrumental in organizing the Edwardsville Library Association, an outgrowth of the Episcopal Sunday School Library, which aimed at establishing a public, circulating book depository. That had been attempted much earlier by a group of Edwardsville men, but the effort had fizzled out after a few years. St. Andrew’s was an early home for this pioneering effort. The “library” was open one day a week (Saturday), and would-be borrowers were able to browse through books that were arranged on the front pews, as there was no shelving. In 1906, the Library Association donated the books that it had collected to the newly-constructed Edwardsville Public Library building a block away in the City Park. That structure had been financed by a grant from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The grant had been secured by St. Andrew’s parishioner Charles Boeschenstein, but the foundation had been laid by the women of our church.

Guild women had been instrumental in supplying books for the people of Edwardsville. They were also responsible for providing a reliable and convenient source of heat for the people of St. Andrew’s. Until 1949, the church had been irregularly heated by a primitive coal-fired furnace, which required a long-suffering parishioner to kindle a fire on cold Sunday mornings and dispose of the resulting ashes. The Vestry dithered for close to a decade about replacing the old furnace with a modern, gas-fueled unit. But the initiative to modernize the heating system was taken by the Guild. The $718 contributed initially was supplemented by the proceeds of bake and rummage sales and the marketing of Christmas cards.

By October 1949, just as the heating season was beginning, the conversion was completed. With an admirable absence of male conceit, Homer Correll, clerk of the Vestry, observed that “It is a well-known fact that any organization progresses through the efforts of the women….” I wonder if Homer was disturbed by the incongruous fact that women were not allowed to serve as voting members of the Vestry. -Jim Weingartner
Announcements

Book Club to Discuss Not in God’s Name January 21
The Book Club selection for our January 21st meeting is Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. This is a book you will want to read with your Bible at hand because it gives one another way of interpreting the biblical texts in Genesis that are at the heart of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

2018 Christmas Photos to Appear on Parish Website Soon!
Thanks to Elizabeth Donald and Mark McKenney, a number of photos of the Children's Christmas Pageant and Greening of the Church will appear on the parish website next week. Be sure to check them out!
Happy January Birthday!
January 6 - Ian Smith
January 13 - Walter Bohn, Ron Yelverton
January 16 - Harold Strangeman
January 18 - Liz Pauk
January 23 - Miriam Burns, Kathy Cochran
January 28 - Dave Thomas
January 30 - Duane Douglas
 The St. Andrew's Week-End Updat e , a weekly emailed newsletter, is designed to keep parishioners up to date on church activities. Please send news items to Editors Marianne Cavanaugh and Jane Weingartner by 11 a.m. on Tuesday to have them appear in the following Friday's newsletter.