Dear Friends in Christ,

What a joy it is to worship in our building again with so many of you. I also recognize that many of you were unable to attend for various reasons, including because we reached our attendance levels so quickly. We will be able to increase the number this week given the increasingly positive health metrics regarding the pandemic. As we join together in worship, in-person and online, we recognize that we worship as a single community, One Together.

With this recognition that we are one church, we also continue to pray for the larger, universal church. We have the opportunity this weekend to hear the Gospel preached from the Reverend Sureshkumar from Sri Lanka. As a professor of New Testament and faithful priest during a difficult third wave of the pandemic, it will be a particular gift this weekend at all three services. In addition, we will be able to join with him at our forum hour via Zoom from Sri Lanka. We will begin fellowship at 11:00 a.m. and begin the forum around 11:15 with a gathering in our parish hall (with a screen down) and much of our community online.

We pray for the larger church such as the church in Sri Lanka, the wider Anglican Communion, and for Christ’s one holy catholic and apostolic church. The continued re-entry into our “normalcy” will be a different experience for each of us. Let us share the Good News and pray for those far off and near as we are drawn together towards God’s loving embrace.

I look forward to seeing you this week, in person and online.

Faithfully yours,

This week, Fairfax County and many surrounding areas entered the Green Zone meaning there are less than 1 case per 100,000 people. Fairfax County has .3 cases per 100,000 meaning health metrics indicate we are on the road to containment of the virus in our area. This week we will have 80 parishioners able to register for each service. And remember, there is plenty of room on Saturday night and at our 8:00 a.m. Sunday service.

This week, we will still practice social distancing and ask for masks to be worn indoors since we are a gathering of mixed vaccination status. We also ask that everyone enters the building by the Main Office Entrance. Our childcare will resume this week and please look at how it will operate. As always, we will ask anyone who is displaying symptoms of COVID-19 to worship with us online. Our online worship experience will continue.

Please stay tuned as we continue to adjust our in-person worship practices, especially as health metrics continue to increase.

@ 6:00 p.m. – Evening Prayer

@ 8:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite I

@ 9:00 a.m. – Bible Study (mtg: 142 074 0872 | pwd: CMrCxTkf488)

@ 10:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite II

@ 11:00 a.m. – Coffee Hour (mtg: 863 4884 3653 | pwd: 163336)

@ 9:00 p.m. – Compline with St. Phoebe's (via Zoom)

@ 9:30 a.m. – Morning Prayer Service

Note: When joining any of our Zoom meetings, please make sure your name is displayed.

2nd Note: If any of the service links above don't work, check our website for updated links.

Note the 3rd: All of our services are also available on our Facebook page.

When registering for a service, please use the drop-down box on the second page to indicate if you are a parishioner (by choosing Parishioner) or a volunteer for that Sunday (by choosing Worship Team). This is extremely important, please do not skip.

If you don’t receive a confirmation email after you register, you are not registered. If you have to cancel, please email Emily (emily@standrews.net).

Contact: Emily Nein (emily@standrews.net)

We are providing childcare during our 10:00 a.m. Sunday services again. The two classes that will be open will be the Nursery (ages 1-3) led by Emily Nein, and our Pre-K class (ages 3-5) led by Laura Sabo.

Classes will be limited to 10 children/class, so you must register ahead of time. All children over the age of two must wear a mask while inside. The Pre-K class may take advantage of the playground, and if they are outside, children can take their masks off.

In order to provide this to all of our young families, we will need help staffing the classrooms. Laura and Emily will need at least one helper each week. Helpers must be 16 years or older, fully vaccinated, and wear a mask. 

You can sign up to volunteer here:

Please be patient as we try to get back into the swing of things. Requirements may change as we see what works and what doesn't.

Thank you all, and we hope to see a lot of you in the coming weeks.

Contact: Emily Nein (emily@standrews.net)

This week's plate offering will go to the ministry of the Reverend Sureshkumar "Suresh" and assist people most in need within his ministry in Sri Lanka. This may include seminarians, priests, a local farming community, and others within his parish community. In order to donate, you may do so in person, with a check indicating "Suresh" in the memo line, or by clicking on the "plate offering" when donating online. Thank you for your generosity.

Now that we are back in the church for all of our services, remember to wear your name tag! We have temporary sticker name tags, but if you would like an Official St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Name Tag™ we have order envelopes available in the Narthex. They are $12 each, and you can choose from either a magnetic or a pin backing.

For those of you who have been to Shrine Mont, no words are necessary, you know how wonderful it is. For anyone who hasn’t been, you simply must experience it! This fun-filled weekend retreat is an all-inclusive stay in the picturesque Shenandoah Mountains. Shrine Mont is home to the cathedral of The Diocese of Virginia, unique in that it is an outdoor cathedral.

This is not a camping trip to the woods (sorry, scouts). We stay in cottages with heating and bathrooms, meals are provided in their cafeterias (Friday dinner through Sunday lunch), and there is an unlimited supply of beautiful nature, fun fellowship, and good old-fashioned family time. This year we will have some Halloween activities as well as our yearly favorites: hikes, S’mores around a campfire, and plenty of time for relaxing and visiting with each other.

Registration will open starting next Friday. Spaces are limited, so register as soon as you can. We are so excited to be back at our cathedral this year!

Contact: Amy Dutton (amy@standrews.net)

Vacation Bible School (July 26th-30th) is our camp for kids ages 3½ to rising 4th graders. We start each morning at 9:00 a.m. and spend the day making crafts, playing, singing, and listening to Bible stories until pick-up at 12:00 p.m. Classes will mostly take place outside, each class in a different area each day. Cost is $30/child ($65 family max). Money & registration due by June 30th.

This year will be smaller than previous camps, with a cap of 50 campers. So, if you want to join us this summer, sign up now.

Depending on what is recommended (for schools) at the time of VBS, masks may be required. We will let you know before camp starts.

Registration is now open.

If you don’t receive a confirmation email after you register, you are not registered. If you have to cancel, please email Emily (emily@standrews.net). Registration and payment are due by June 30th.

Contact: Amy Dutton (amy@standrews.net)

With our increased technological abilities, we welcome, all the way from Sri Lanka, the Reverend S. Sureshkumar. Fr. Suresh, recently at the Virginia Theological Seminary working on his doctorate, is a professor and lecturer of New Testament at The Theological College of Lanka, and serves as priest associate at the Church of Ceyloy in the Diocese of Colombo. We will be able to hear him preach in the sanctuary and online and are grateful for this opportunity.

As you may have read in the news, this area of the world is hitting a hard third wave of Covid-19. Hospitals are full, supplies are short, and food is often not available. The plate offering for Sunday, June 13th, will go towards those in need in Sri Lanka which may include seminarians, a remote farming community hit particularly hard, and others in particular need. You may donate with “Suresh” in the memo line, give online and designate “plate” on the weekend of June 12/13, or put money not marked as pledge in the offertory plates which will be outside the sanctuary during those services. Please join us as we welcome Suresh!

Contact: Michelle Ramsdell (michelle@standrews.net)

Please keep these members of our community in your prayers: 

Contact: Deborah England (prayer@standrews.net)