Weekly Sunday service information and parish news. |
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Fr. Ben Hankinson, Rector
Celebrant for all services.
In light of recent CDC updates, we strongly encourage everyone, including those who are fully vaccinated, to wear masks when attending church. We pray that through compassionate fidelity to the common good, we will see the present surge subside.
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September 12, Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Holy Eucharist | Rite I, 8 a.m. | Rite II 10 a.m. (Sung)
In-person attendance for up to 75 worshippers | Masks required.
Facebook Live at 10 a.m.
Coffee hour following the 10 a.m. service.
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Readings for Sunday, September 12
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Make Your Offering!
Mail: Send your check to St. Andrew's Treasurer, at 406 Hillsboro Avenue, Edwardsville 62025.
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September 11 and The Week of September 12
- Book Fair at Chautauqua in City Park, September 11, 3-6.
- Church School, Choir, and Nursery sitter return, Sunday, September 12!
- Evening Prayer, 5:30 p.m., Sunday, via Facebook Live
- Holy Cross Day, Holy Eucharist, Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.
- Evening Prayer, 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, via Facebook Live
Looking Ahead
- Parish Picnic at Township Park, Sunday, September 19, after church.
- Fr. Ben's Midweek Class returns, Wednesday, September 22.
- Afghan immigrant collection at St. Andrew's ends Sunday, Sept. 26.
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Sunday, September 12 -- Together Again!
Plan to join fellow parishioners on Sunday, September 12, as we begin another year:
- Church School for children at 9:15 in the church garden;
- Church School for adults at 9:15 in Pearson Hall;
- Sitter available from 8:30 to 11:30 in the nursery (Lower Level).
- St. Andrew's choir returns for the 10 a.m. service.
Reconnect with our parish family on this special Sunday -- together again!
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Parish Picnic, Sunday, September 19!
Following the 10 a.m. service, we look forward to seeing everyone -- in person and online attenders -- at our parish picnic at Township Park on Center Grove Road on September 19. The meat portion of the meal will be provided, so please bring a side dish or dessert to share with others. There are so many in the parish we have not seen since the pandemic. This outdoor setting may be a safe opportunity to spend some quality time with everyone!
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How do you know who wins a baseball game? We keep score, and the team with the most points wins. We like it when our team wins. We like it when we win. But sometimes, keeping score isn’t the way to win.
Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (Matthew 18:21) Peter, like us, wants to know where he stands. Jesus responds, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22) This might seem like Jesus means that the score to win is really high, but that’s not it either.
What Jesus is really saying is don’t keep score. Don’t go for the least amount of love but strive for the greatest. Give and forgive more. Seek to outdo one another in love. Forgive them over and over and over and over.
Today, we remember the anniversary of September 11, a moment in which many can remember where we were when we first saw or heard. We remember the pain and confusion and anger. For us, forgiveness can seem like a completely different category when we get to days like this. Yet the heart of the matter remains the same.
We forgive because we have been forgiven. When we accept God’s forgiveness for our sins, we can more easily forgive others for theirs. But so long as we withhold forgiveness, we give that anger license to maintain residence in our minds and in our hearts. Over time that anger can easily lead to hatred and hinder our Christian witness.
To those of us who remember such tragic days, don’t keep score. Don’t live in anger and hatred. Let us forgive as we have been forgiven and let go of the power which the sins of others hold over us so that we may live in peace according to the grace and mercy and love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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Along with children’s Sunday school, tomorrow we begin our adult forums between the two services. Our fall series will be focusing on the Catechism as found in the Book of Common Prayer, beginning on page 845.
A catechism is, as the title page indicates, an outline of the faith. Touching on God, human nature, Scripture, covenants, sin and redemption, the Church, and so much more, our conversations on Sunday morning will aid us in exploring the foundations of life in Christ.
Join us on Sunday mornings at 9:15 a.m. in Pearson Hall as we make our way through these essentials of the faith together.
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Announcements
- Donations for Afghan immigrants may be brought to St. Andrew's through Sunday, September 26. Alternatively, items may be taken to SIUE Birger Hall, and placed in the collection receptacles there.
- Fr. Ben's fall study class begins on Wednesday, September 22, at 6 p.m. He will also be leading an adult forum on Sundays at 9:15 a.m. between the 8 and 10 a.m. services. The fall series will be focusing on the Catechism as found in the Book of Common Prayer.
- Thank you to Megan Thomas Roland who sang "How Great Thou Art" so beautifully at last Sunday's 10 a.m. service. Megan is the daughter of parishioners Deane and Dave Thomas.
- Thank you to Opera Edwardsville for donating the mums from their Friday, September 10, performance in City Park to St. Andrew's.
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Episcopal Church News
Pastoral word from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on the 20th anniversary of September 11
[September 8, 2021] As followers of Jesus, and with our siblings in other faith traditions, we place great value on the act of remembrance. As we reflect on the solemn anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, we remember many loved ones lost and first responders who put their lives at risk, modeling the sacrificial love of Jesus, who said: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
While 20 years have passed, I also want us to pause and remember the days that followed these tragic events. There was a moment in the aftermath when people came together. We were praying, grieving, and also working together. Because in that moment, however fleeting it was, we knew with immediacy and vulnerability that we need God, and we need each other.
Memories of that tender cooperation—of love for each other as neighbors—serve as guiding lights for the present. Amidst the ongoing pandemic and natural disasters that have taken so many lives and pushed first responders to their limits, and amidst a worldwide reckoning with the sin of racism, we are called to become the Beloved Community whose way of life is the way of Jesus and his way of love.
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The Bergers: Enjoying Life in Germany |
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Jungfrau - Switzerland. One of the most famous European peaks and the highest railway station on the continent. 11,362 feet.
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Wengen, Switzerland - Weekend trip from home base in Germany. |
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St. Andrew's Communications
Communications Coordinator and Newsletter Editor-in-Chief, Marian Smithson
Newsletter Editor, Jane Weingartner | Newsletter Editor, Marianne Cavanaugh
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