St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
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I begin my spiritual pilgrimage this Sunday,
leaving directly from church to the airport. I will be in Spain for two weeks hiking a portion of the Camino de Santiago, which is a well-worn pilgrimage path from the time of the early church. I will begin in Burgos, Spain and hike to Santiago de Compostela, the site of the Cathedral believed to hold the relics of St. James, the apostle and patron saint of Spain. This will be for me a time of prayer, meditation, healing, spiritual wandering and probably spiritual wondering as well. To share this experience with you, I will be blogging regularly. The blog entries will be posted on our website
www.standrewsshippensburg.org
and also on our St. Andrew’s Facebook page.
Please hold me in prayer as I will hold all of you in love and prayer and will bring home much spiritual richness to share with you.
With love and blessings, Barbara+
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Mo. Barbara's first
"The Way is Made by Walking Blog"
entry
please journey with me
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camino
"A pilgrimage is a return to the place of your resurrection." This is a common understanding among the Celtic tradition and also among modern theologians.
Read more
www.standrewsshippensburg.org
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Something special for you
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A note from Susan, our seminarian
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Greetings, Friends!
I can't thank you enough for your continued support for my ordination journey. The journey continues even though I am on a leave of absence from seminary for at least this semester.
I am in conversations with Diocesan leaders, including Mother Barbara, discussing ways of continuing my formation even though I'm not in classes at the moment, and I'm looking forward to doing some of that service with all of you. This will include your having to endure another sermon or two from me, among other things.
It's great to be back! And I'm grateful to be able to spend this time with all of you as I remain (as always) in discernment on this winding, exciting path and before I dive back into classes in the future. Peace to you all, and I'll see you soon!
Susan
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What's almost here
Taizé Worship Service
September 21st
5 p.m.
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You may be planning to come this evening because your previous experiences with Taizé services have touched your heart and soul in such a profound way, you come yearning for that deep place with God found through silence, prayer, and chanting.
Or you may be planning to come on Saturday evening because you are curious about a contemplative service and come with questions and intrigue in your heart, pondering how this experience could be different for you than the typical Sunday morning worship.
Or you may be coming because you know we'll have a scrumptious reception following the service!
If you don't know much about Taizé worship, let me share a bit about it:
In the south of Burgundy, France lays a small village called Taizé. This village founded over seventy years ago by Brother Roger is home to a monastic community devoted to prayer and reconciliation. The community is made up of brothers from all the continents and major denominations who gather together three times a day, seven days a week, throughout the year to pray (whether there are 7000 young people present or only twenty).
While many people make pilgrimages to Taizé to experience the community and prayer life, most experience Taizé through the ways that community comes to us, namely by the characteristics it has contributed to Christian worship practices. While Taizé worship as practiced in the monastic community cannot be simply imitated, it can and has been adapted by many Christian communities in the United States.
The characteristic of Taizé worship that is most prevalent in our worship has been the use of a kind of repetitive prayer set to simple musical lines. Repetition is not a new phenomenon nor unique to Taizé. The use of repetitive prayers is a long-attested reality in the history of Christian spirituality and liturgy (for example, in the Jesus Prayer and the Rosary). What is unique to the prayer of Taizé is the adaptation of the repetitive form to simple musical lines and core biblical texts that can be sung by a whole assembly of various nationalities, languages, and denominations.
Another characteristic of Taizé worship that has been a welcome gift to our worship is its generous use of silence. Those simply incorporating Taizé music may not experience this fully, but when planning an entire worship service in the style of Taize, silence will be a very important dimension of worship.
Coming to Taizé is to be invited to search for communion with God through community prayer, song, silence, personal reflection and sharing. In the beauty of our church, in the vesper light of the setting sun, in the midst of candlelight, we hope this experience will support you in your journey inward, deeper into the presence of Christ within.
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To listen to a rendition of our first chant of the evening, please click above.
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This week in Sunday School
Godly Play will be from 9:30-9:50 a.m. (2-6 year olds).
Sunday School will be from 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for all ages.
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After a very fun start to Sunday School last week, when our young people created musical instruments they will use later in one of our church services as part of their celebration of worship -- we continue this week.
Our youth of all ages will be together again this Sunday. This gathering of all allows community to be built. They will also create together. They will hear and reflect upon Psalm 1, and then offer an art response on canvas, creating a mosaic from their offerings, similar to what is below.
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To check out the activity for this week, please
click here.
We invite all our young people to join us for church and then Sunday School. It will be a wonderful time for all.
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To engage in lectio divina with the texts, please
click here.
To read Dina's sermon from last week, please
click here.
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8 a.m.
Crucifer:
Bill Gawors
Celebrant:
Mother Barbara
Preacher:
Dina Carter Ishler
Greeter:
Aly Howard
Lector:
Steve Smith
Eucharistic Minister:
Nichol Free
Verger
: Mike Stitt
10 a.m.
Altar Guild
: Kathy Varner, Kathy Magaro, Jane Offner, Roseann Sysko
Gospel Bearer
: Joseph Luo
Greeters
: Doug Eshleman, Jennifer Eshleman
Acolytes
: Shannon O’Donnell, Neiley O’Donnell, James Williams,
Lectors
: Mary Beth Williams, Andrew Smeltz
Celebrant:
Mother Barbara
Preacher:
Dina Carter Ishler
Eucharistic Ministers
: Steve Nicola, Andrew Smeltz
Counters:
Laura Bonanni, Dave Hutton
Coffee Hour:
Edna Guido, Jane Offner
Sub-deacon:
Dina Carter Ishler
Verger:
Mike Stitt
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Save the Date!
Safeguarding Training
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October 6th
12:15 p.m.
Safeguarding God’s Children Training will be offered on Sunday 10/6 at 12:15 p.m. by The Very Rev. Robyn Szoke-Coolidge. This training is for all people working with our young people, all vestry members, and for all adults who want to be a part of our commitment for this parish to be a completely safe place for all of God’s children.
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For your Spiritual Nourishment & Growth
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At our Wednesday evening adult formation gathering, we shared our results of taking the Spiritual Type Inventory. There were some surprises! Also, we shared what part of worship we were most drawn to--and that was a rich and important conversation.
We discovered the idea is to deepen the experiences where we already meet God -- for the goal is not to stay where we are with God, but always to deepen our relationship, so we may more fully feel the blessing of God-- and then become a blessing to others.
We were all invited/encouraged/challenged to engage in the same spiritual practice for the next month and to see how it shapes our place with God.
Will you join us in this practice ?
It could be very wonderful and life-changing if our entire parish was praying each day, in a way that would build a common place with God among us, even though our individual experiences with the practice may be different.
We invite you to check out pray-as-you-go. You can access it by going to
their website
or download the free App on your device. Feel free to share your experiences of this practice with others. It's a way we all can grow.
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Check out our latest photo!
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St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
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