St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
Discerning our gifts and call within Community
Have you ever known you were doing the exact right thing, in exactly the right situation, and that lives have been changed because of it? There was a certain "flow" you had entered into and things turned out better than you could ever have imagined. This could be when you cradle your newborn in the crook of your elbow and a lullaby surfaces from your memory and your baby eases into sleep, and you are suddenly more alive than you have ever felt before. This could be when you stand up in front of a classroom of children and your ordinary words have a profound influence on your students as you can see the "lightbulbs" going off in their heads and they capture an insight which had evaded them before. This could be when you cradle a dying person's hands in yours and whisper a comforting prayer and you know you have both entered into a bit of eternity here on earth. This could be when you stand in the pulpit and you feel tingly all over for a new and different energy seems to overcome you and you feel the Spirit speaking through you. All of these moments are awe-inspiring. All of these moments are of God. All of these moments are about using your gifts, talents, and passions in exactly the way God desires for you. All of these moments result in lives being changed and the Kingdom of God drawing nearer.

Part of the gift, joy, and responsibility of being a community centered in Christ is offering discernment, affirmation, and engagement in each other's gifts and special calling, for that is so often how we come to know God. Although these are personal and often intimate experiences when we sense the presence of God while being in the right spot, doing the right thing, and offering ourselves forward to others, discernment and support of each other's calling always happens in community.

We are blessed at St. Andrew's that we are a community who prays together, listens closely to each other, and strives to live authentically, which means living true to using our gifts in whatever way God has asked us.

Currently, we are being the loving and supportive community to three people who are hearing a call to ordained ministry -- and we have the gift of listening hearts to discern with them and shepherd them into being the fullness of who God intends for them to be, through hearing and living into their special vocation.

I am grateful for your generosity of spirit and openness to be attentive to the Spirit as we engage with the discernment of those near and dear to us.

With love, Mother Barbara
Susan returns home for the summer after two years of seminary, with her final year beginning this fall. The formation process at seminary includes academic work as well as field placement at a local church. Because of her draw toward chaplaincy ministry, much of her ministry at the parish has been oriented toward offering pastoral care to members. Susan has found her relationships with her student companions to be rich and deep and through them has found an abiding sense of God's presence.

This summer she will be doing her CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) at the Lebanon VA Hospital where she will be formed and trained as a hospice chaplain. Luckily her hours at the hospital will all be during the week, so she will be able to be with us on Sundays. Please welcome her home to our parish!
Susan Sanders
Seminarian
Susan has been raised up by our parish, so the discernment and affirmation of her gifts and calling to the priesthood has been organic, deep, and broad.

With Mother Barbara's encouragement and support, her discernment committee's recommendation to go forward toward her call to the priesthood, with the vestry's endorsement, and most importantly with the support of our bishop, Susan went off to seminary in the fall of 2017 to pursue her Masters of Divinity Degree.

She is a postulant in the ordination process which means our parish, our bishop and the Commission on Ministry all affirm her call to the priesthood, and particularly to hospice chaplaincy ministry. Her passion is to bring the love of God, through her sacramental presence, into the experience of death for those dying as well as their loved ones.
Being a priest is so much more than celebrating the Eucharist within community, and yet that sacramental act is an essential part of being a priest, pastor, and "lover of souls", as the sacrament offers nourishment and healing to all those who are present.

Jim will celebrate his first Eucharist among us, his parish family, on Sunday June 16th. This is a special service, with particular prayers offered for Jim as he lives ever more fully into his vocation.

One very special part of this service is the invitation for each one of us to come forward and receive a blessing from this newly ordained priest. We invite you to celebrate with Jim this "moment of a lifetime", (Jim's ordination), which unfolds through all eternity.
Jim Robertson
Ordinand for the Priesthood
Ordination Date: 6/15
Jim came into our diocese a year ago as a transitional deacon, which means he had been ordained as a deacon yet felt a call to the priesthood.

Our bishop asked Jim to visit most of the parishes in the diocese and to find a home parish which he could settle into and ultimately be sponsored for ordination to the priesthood.

St. Andrew's was the second parish he visited and as he will say, "The Spirit decided for him and chose St. Andrew's!" This is how a call happens. It wasn't Jim deciding to choose us, it was something within and beyond Jim that told him this was right.

With Mother Barbara's support and our vestry's endorsement, and the support of our bishop, Commission on Ministry and Standing Committee, Jim has been approved for ordination on 6/15. This will be a glorious day and we hope you can all be there to share in the joy.
The term of the field placement will be 6-8 months. Dina and Mother Barbara have created 9 ministry goals, ranging from the deepening of her personal spiritual life, to her development as a preacher, to enter faithfully into a new congregational setting, to exploring her longing for sacramental engagement and leadership (and a few more which she will be happy to share with you). She will commit to 10-15 hours a week of ministry among us or preparation for ministry. She will be with us most Sundays, serving in a variety of capacities. Once a month, she will return to her home parish of St. Edward's so she can keep those relationships strong and vital.

In return to her offering to us, we will commit to be her mentors and companions along the Way. We will journey with her, engage with her, share our spirituality with her, invite her into our lives and ministry, offer her support and feedback, and pray for and with her. This Sunday we will engage in a beautiful Litany of Welcome which she artfully crafted and which connects her time with us with our baptismal vows and draws us into community at depth.

I invite you to surround and embrace her with your love.
Dina Carter Ishler
Field Placement Intern
Dina is a nominee in the diocesan formal discernment process. This means that the clergy of her home parish (St. Edward's in Lancaster), the bishop, and the Commission of Ministry are strongly encouraging her to continue her discernment toward ordination to the priesthood. Dina has taken many courses through our excellent Diocesan Stevenson School for Ministry, which has become a source of affirmation of her gifts, passion, and calling as she has thrived in this academic setting and prayerful and Christ-centered community.

Dina preached at St. Andrew's a month ago, invited by Mother Barbara who had become acquainted with Dina through a course they were both taking on the Gospel of John. Dina also has roots here at St. Andrew's as she and her family were members here 20 years ago before moving to another area in PA.

The bishop has arranged a field placement for Dina, as part of her ongoing discernment and has asked that St. Andrew's be her field placement parish. With Mother Barbara's joyful encouragement and the vestry's similar supportive response, Dina will do her field placement here at St. Andrew's and will be our intern.

What is your unique calling?
Calling
Jesus calls each of us to follow him. The particular way in which we follow will be an expression of who we are and of what we desire to become. This particular way of following will be a unique gift that we alone can offer back to God.
-Br. David Vryhof

Preparing for Sunday
To read the scriptures in advance, please click here.

To engage in Lectio Divina with the texts, please click here.

To listen to the amazing sermon James Williams preached last Sunday, full of insight and truth, please click on arrow to the right.

8 a.m.
Greeters: Aly Howard, Linda Madden
Verger: Mike Stitt
Crucifer: Bill Gawors
Lector: Sue Davis
Eucharistic Minister: Nichol Free
Celebrant & Preacher: The Rev. Canon Dan Morrow

10 a.m.
Altar Guild: Kathy Varner, Kathy Magaro, Jane Offner, Roseann Sysko
Greeters: Edna Guido, Dave Hutton
Verger: Mike Stitt
Acolytes: Shannon O’Donnell, Neiley O’Donnell, Jonathan Luo
Gospel Bearer: Joseph Luo
Lectors: Larry Shillock, Lisa Woolley
Celebrant & Preacher: The Rev. Canon Dan Morrow
Eucharistic Ministers: Ken Dotson, Melisa Dotson
Counters: Larry Shillock, Jean Shepherd
Coffee Hour: The Romine Family  


What is happening this Sunday?

8 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite 1
9:30 a.m. Godly Play for our littles ones
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite 2
11:15 a.m. Coffee Hour
11:45 a.m. Vestry Meeting with Canon Dan Morrow

SPO Egg Money Collection at both services
Love needs not to know ....
To people who want to be contemplatives but are afraid to get started ....

One of the best ways to discern God's gifts to you and the unique and specific way you are to respond by sharing them in our world is to listen to God. That sounds simple, but it's not. We often fill our prayer time with words or requests, all of which is fine, but we need at least equal time of listening for God's response, which happens when we stop talking and begin listening.

Here's an interesting blog post for those of us who want to listen, but are afraid to get started of don't know how. https://www.contemplativelight.com/blog/to-people-who-want-to-be-contemplatives-but-are-afraid-to-get-started

If you would like to talk with me about starting a Contemplative Prayer practice, please just let me know. We have a number of people in our parish who engage in this practice and can share their experiences with you too!
Death, Resurrection, and Eternal Life
We had an excellent session last Wednesday evening on our topic of Death, Resurrection, and Eternal Life. We explored together the theology in the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) regarding the concept of death, resurrection and eternal life. We looked at what the ancient Israelites believed and then looked at the thinking of the 2nd Temple Period, when Jesus would have been alive. Imagine this --- we found that the notion of eternal life developed over time, and that at any given time, there were many different ideas floating around about this topic! I think the one that struck my heart so was the theology of the Psalmists: the psalms portray a God who has power over all things, including our death. So our resurrection and eternal life are not dependent upon us, but rather on God, for God has power over all things in our life, including our death.

If you would like to listen to the content part of our session, please click on this link.

Next Wednesday we will explore what the gospels portray Jesus saying about resurrection and eternal life and then look closely at the stories of the empty tomb and post-resurrection appearances to glean insight into our thinking of what follows our earthly life. All are welcome to attend.