The Weekly Net

November 23, 2022

O Lord our God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power; because you have created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Revelation 4:11


Dear Friends in Christ,


In this week of Thanksgiving, we give thanks for so much in the life of St. Andrew's. Our 50th-anniversary team wonderfully guided us as they planned for the past two years. Thank you to our co-chairs January Layman-Wood and Martha Turner and to the other members: Jane Girondo, Rich Richardson, Mark Foster, Anne Brannam, Jim Kirkpatrick, Rosemary Phillips, and our senior wardens Betsy Cotten and Doug Wood. Of course, there were so many more people contributing to our individual events and other components of our celebrations. This includes you as the church is comprised of all the people!


We welcomed back alumni from many places and times and we remembered those saints who have gone before. We heard from all of our rectors, including a letter from our second rector, the Rev. Tim Heflin.


It was a delight to welcome back our founding vicar and rector, the Rev. Dr. Randall Prior who preached at our 50th-anniversary service. You can still find that sermon online at this link. We also welcomed the Prior family as the vestry read a resolution passed naming the Rev. Randall Prior as Rector Emeritus.


We celebrated our liturgy on the Feast of Saint Andrew (a bit earlier than the actual feast date) directly after the 228th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Virginia. You may also read a resolution passed at the convention commemorating our 50 years.


As we give thanks for 50 years, we look to the next 50 years and beyond. I thank God for each one of you as we seek to follow Jesus in the Church at St. Andrew's. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and Happy Anniversary!


Faithfully yours,

The Rev. William L. Packard

Rector

will@standrews.net | (571) 449-7438

Sunday Music

Gabe Simerson | gabe@standrews.net

Opening - Come, thou long-expected Jesus (Hymn 66)

Sequence - Prepare the way, O Zion (Hymn 65)

Offertory Anthem - 'Twas Love (Gabriel Rhys Simerson, b. 1998)

Communion - O come, O come, Emmanuel (Hymn 56)

Closing - Lo! he comes with clouds descending (Hymn 57)

Music Notes: The text of this morning's anthem (written as a hymn tune) is by Sally Edwards, a late parishioner of St. Thomas's, New Haven, Connecticut. My first church job was at St. Thomas's, and I still receive their emails, and on Advent 1 last year, this poem was at the top of the parish e-blast. It immediately found music in my head and I wrote it down and sent it to Sally, who not only approved of it but considered it urgent the choir recorded it as she was dying of cancer. They did, ultimately, and when her husband wrote me last month to communicate her death, he told me that the piece was to be sung at her funeral. It was an honor to have contributed to a slot available only once in a person's life and to have earned the praise of the unwitting author of the text I set.

-Gabriel Rhys Simerson

Worship Services & Formation

Saturday, November 26th

@ 6:00 p.m. – Evening Prayer


Sunday, November 27th

@ 8:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite I

@ 9:00 a.m. – Bible Study

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

@ 11:20 a.m. – Advent Festival (No Formation)


Wednesday, November 30th

@ 9:30 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite II

@ 10:30 a.m. – Bible Study: Song of Songs


Links to our online services and Bible Studies are available on our website.

Send In Your Pledges

Michelle Ramsdell | michelle@standrews.net

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their pledge cards or pledged online! As of today, we have received pledges from 118 families and are already at 94% of our pledging goal! Remember, every little bit helps. Even $5/week makes a big difference, especially when multiple families make that pledge.


Pledge Cards are available on the table in the Narthex, or you can pledge online at www.standrews.net/giving. Our 2023 budget is starting to take shape, and we need your pledges to know how best to proceed for the new year.


Advent Festival

Amy Dutton | amy@standrews.net

Mark your calendars! We will have a parish-wide Advent festival immediately following the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, November 27th. We will have stations for making advent wreaths (1 per family), ornaments, snacks (hot cocoa and cider and more!), music, and other activities! This is for people of all ages, so we hope to see you all there!

Parents and Littles

Amy Dutton | amy@standrews.net

The December PALs get-together will be on Wednesday, December 7th from 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Parents and Littles is a chance to mingle with other parents from the Parish and Preschool and have the little ones play together. You can stay for the whole time or just drop in whenever. We will have coffee for the grown-ups and snacks and toys for the kids.

FoMA Concert: Karen Ashbrook and Friends

Gabe Simerson | gabe@standrews.net

Join us on Sunday, December 11th at 4:00 p.m. for our annual concert by Karen Ashbrook and Friends. The popular duo KA/PO (Karen Ashbrook & Paul Oorts) will be joined by cellist Sophie Chang for an afternoon concert, featuring carols and music from Belgium, France, England, and Germany. Paul Oorts, Belgian multi-instrumentalist, will share delightful childhood Flemish traditions of the season. The shimmering strings of the hammered dulcimer, harp guitar, cello, and the reeds of the accordion, ring in the holiday time of year!


Funds collected from this concert will be split between ECHO and the FACETS Hot Meals program at St. Andrew’s.

Advent Lessons & Carols

Gabe Simerson | gabe@standrews.net

Join us on December 18th at 5:00 p.m. for a service of Advent Lessons and Carols! Modeled on the revered service from King's College, Cambridge, this is a choral event with a mixture of congregational Advent hymns and the glorious, if sometimes overlooked, Advent repertoire for choir. Don't forget that before there's Christmas, there's Advent, and it's a thrilling, mystical season of expectation and anticipation - perfect for expressing in music!

Christmas Poinsettias 

Emily Nein | emily@standrews.net

It’s time again for the tradition of decorating the church for Christmas with your gifts of poinsettias. Each poinsettia is a visual symbol of your gift, given as a memorial for a loved one or a thanksgiving for a blessing in your life. Your thanksgivings and memorials will be printed in the Christmas service bulletins. 


Envelopes for your donations are located on the bulletin board outside the office. Suggested donations: $25. Please return your filled-out envelope to the office by Thursday, December 15th.

Cookies for FACETS Hot Meals

Betsy Cotten | srwarden@standrews.net

This year, our FACETS Hot Meal teams will deliver meals to 130+ families on Christmas Eve. We’d like to add some special holiday treats to these meals. As you are doing your holiday baking, could you bake an extra batch of cookies/treats?


Please deliver your cookies/treats (labeled with “FACETS Hot Meals - Cookies”) to the kitchen on or before December 22nd. You can also join us as we create our treat bags on December 22nd from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Whether you bake or not, all are welcome to drop by to help us with this intergenerational opportunity to serve our community. 


Let us know how you will be helping: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0845ADA82FA0F58-cookies


Advent Devotion Books

The Rev. Colleen Schiefelbein | colleen@standrews.net

This year I was drawn to art and its ability to minister to us. Art like poetry helps connect us to our emotions and our soul. Three of these devotions are filled with beautiful art. While Advent in Plain Sight does not include art, it focuses on physical objects around you. Advent is a time of preparation for the birth of Christ and Christ’s coming again. These devotions walk us through the Scripture passages opening and preparing our hearts to welcome Jesus Christ who is and was and who will be. We are not alone. God has been and will always be with us.


ADVENT BOOKS 2022

Making Room in Advent: 25 Devotions for a Season of Wonder by Bette Dickinson


This small beautiful book is “an invitation away from the chaos and into the space where God is at work.” The book takes you through the first two chapters of Luke and the entire birth narrative. Each day offers an original painting for meditation, the reading for the day, a brief but profound reading, a question to ponder, and a breathe prayer. Making Room is a moment of calm and centering in a busy, chaotic season.

Advent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects by Jill J. Duffield


Advent in Plain Sight connects everyday objects with objects in the biblical texts reminding the reader of the closeness of God. These are direct and challenging devotions to move you to action. This devotional has readings for each day from the first Sunday of Advent through the end of the season of Christmas. The Scripture readings are brief, so familiarity with the Holy Scriptures, particularly the readings of Advent, would be helpful. Each day offers a brief reading, questions to ponder and a prayer. Advent in Plain Sight is for those who are comfortable in their spiritual journey and want to go deeper.

Wounded in Spirit: Advent Art and Meditations by David Bannon


If this Christmas is a challenging time of year for you, this may be an Advent devotion for you. Bannon writes in the Introduction, “This book is about artists who walked through their own dark valleys and the light they found there. Their wounds speak to us across the centuries: We are not alone,” Each day begins with a Scripture verse and then focuses on a different artist with several pieces of art from that artist. The devotion shares a story of a moment of grief in the life of the artist and how it may have affected their painting. There are also beautifully arranged quotes from well-known theologians offered for each day. Wounded in Spirit is for anyone whose heart and soul are tender or wounded this season. 

Twas the Season of Advent: Devotions and Stories for the Christmas Season by Glenys Nellist


Twas the Season of Advent is a children’s book full of colorful, inviting illustrations of Jesus’ birth story. Each day of December begins with a verse of a poem that runs throughout the book and a verse from Scripture. The brief one-page devotion invites the reader to join the story of Jesus’ birth and concludes with a prayer. The devotions are designed for elementary children, but everyone will enjoy the art.

St. Andrew's Accolades

vestry@standrews.net

Thank you to an anonymous Parish member for this week’s submission for St. Andrew’s Accolades.


St. Andrew’s is lucky to have such caring, creative, and energetic staff and volunteers who work with our children every week. One of these special persons is Mary Anne Haskins. I remember when she was a Sunday School superintendent. She would volunteer for extra assignments, fill in when someone was absent, and just pitch in wherever and whenever she was needed. You will always find her in the education wing of the church! Now she works with the combined class in the Multipurpose Room assisting Amy Dutton with whatever needs to be done—crafts, snacks, crowd control, you name it. She’s so wonderful with her own grandchildren and with all the children in her care. Mary Anne has spent countless Sunday mornings working on behalf of the children of St. Andrew’s and for that, she deserves our gratitude.


There are so many people who do so much for St. Andrew's. Stewardship includes gifts of time and talent (in addition to 'treasure') to the mission of Christ. The Vestry would like to recognize this important work, celebrate some of our unsung heroes, and extend our gratitude for all the stewardship offered here. You'll see these in St. Andrew's Accolades. If you would like to extend your thanks and praise to someone here at St. Andrew’s or maybe someone you “catch” giving their time and talent towards the mission of Christ, we’d like to feature them in St. Andrew’s Accolades. Please share with us at vestry@standrews.net or on the bulletin board in the back hallway. 

Online Giving

Michelle Ramsdell | michelle@standrews.net

Your financial gifts to St. Andrew’s are of vital importance to support our ongoing ministries and our outreach to the most vulnerable among us. Please continue to offer your faithful gifts by:


  • Mailing your check to our church office (6509 Sydenstricker Rd, Burke VA 22015)
  • Hand delivering cash or checks to the church mailbox (cash or check should be sealed in an envelope marked with your name)
  • Using your bank’s online bill-pay feature
  • Using St. Andrew’s online giving feature. You will be asked to provide your email address, an amount, date of gift, whether it is one-time or recurring, and a fund. In the fund box, you can click the arrow at the right-hand side to see the drop-down menu (the current options are Pledge and Plate Offering). The next page will give you the option of paying via your bank or debit/credit card. Please note that St. Andrew’s will pay fees on these transactions and you will be asked if you would like to increase your donation to offset these fees.

Prayer List

Deborah England | prayers@standrews.net

Please keep these members of our community in your prayers: 

Pam, John & Janet Carver, Bill Hartig, Nancy Knight, Charles Petty, Hugh Brian Henderson, Olivia Kertesz, Beth Matovick, Felix Benitez, Annie Sher, Frank Traglia, John Strong, Maureen Sullivan, Donna Schrock, John & Gayle Brooks, Andrea Corella, Eddie Fortune, Louise Mason, Colin Browne, Sharon Sutton, Michelle Meyer, Mike Trapper, Carson, Gloria Aurora, John Corbett, Diane Marshall, Brian DeWyngaert, Miguel Salazar, Andrea Griffiths, Caeley Flanagan, Carolyn Kohn, Dorothy Polk, Rachael Noonan, Audrey R., Kim Reisig, Nate Dixon, Wally Morgan, Scott Rife, Myra Miller Hughes, Debbie Polk, Jacqueline Turner, Edie Yriart, Josefa Jackson, Jane Nies, Tony Durso, Lisa Eggers, Angela Kennedy, Brad Geiger

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emily@standrews.net | www.standrews.net

(703) 455-2500