Shining the Light

Dear ones,

After a long covid-related hiatus, Community Picnic Sunday is back! This coming Sunday, September 18, we will all worship together at 10:00 a.m. (no 8:00 a.m. service) and then gather outside for food, fellowship, and fun. The picnic will include games, crafts, face painting, and balloon animals for kids and kids-at-heart.

If you've been eager to connect or reconnect at St. Andrew's, this is a great opportunity to do so. It's also a perfect time to bring friends, family, or neighbors to church. All are welcome.

To make this event successful, we need your help! Our biggest needs right now are set-up help on Saturday and clean-up help on Sunday afternoon. Sign up here to volunteer, bring a side dish, or simply RSVP for the picnic.

We can't wait to see all of you!

Love,

Dorota+

Join us at 10:00 a.m. for a combined service, followed by the Community Picnic!

See Rev. Dorota's message above for more information.

Each Wednesday at 8:30pm members of St. Andrew's meet via this Zoom Compline link for a brief service of contemplative nighttime prayers. All are welcome to join. For those who do not have a copy of the BCP at home, you may download this Compline booklet.

Seminarian Brandon Nonnemaker looks at the parable of the good shepherd through the lens of not only those who are lost, but also those of us who face the shepherd's decision. In a society that marginalizes the sinners, the broken, and the lost, are we like the Pharisees who join in the exclusion, or like Jesus who seeks the lost and welcomes them to the table?

Last Sunday, the monthly breakfast returned in the undercroft. We experienced a great turnout given the rain and look forward to expanding the menu in the coming months. This is a great time to meet parishioners from the service you do not attend regularly and enjoy delicious breakfast food prepared under the watchful eye of Ted and Jason! Plenty of space and treats for St. Andrew's youth as well. We look forward to seeing you for the next one on October 2!

Join us for a series of five sessions intended to encourage Christians to speak and act on behalf of God's good creation. Youth and adult sessions will run concurrently on Sundays from 9:00 - 9:45 a.m., beginning September 25 and ending October 23. To learn more contact Rev. Dorota (adults) or Mallory Nonnemaker (youth). Register here by Sunday, September 18.

Vestry liaisons to various ministry groups provided updates on feedback received since the August meeting from ministry leaders. An update on plans for the next Stewardship campaign was presented and discussed. Updates on potential tenants for the Renehan Center were presented and discussed, including lessons learned from lease negotiations. The group discussed plans for further research into planned giving programs in accordance with recommendations made in the 2021 audit. The Treasurers report was discussed, including vestry approval of the required diocesan pledge.

Please wear your nametags at church throughout September. As we find our rhythm with our regular worship schedule, school routines, and work flow, we often see new faces in the pews. Let's be prepared to greet each other warmly and show hospitality to our visitors!

Now is a great time to log in to our online church directory to check your contact information and/or update your photo.

If you've never logged in online, go to https://members.instantchurchdirectory.com and following the prompts under "Sign In" to "Create a login now." You will need to use your email address as listed in the directory to create a log-in the first time you use the online directory. Not sure what email address might be in the directory or if you're even in the directory? Contact the parish administrator, who will be happy to help!

We look forward to seeing you at the Costume Party to celebrate the Players' 50th Anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm! Costumes welcomed but not required. Don't miss the fun, food and games based on five of the many shows produced by the Players: The Sound of Music, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Anne of Green Gables, The Madwoman of Chaillot, and The Wizard of Oz! We encourage you to invite your friends and neighbors as well! To get a rough head-count, your RSVP would be most appreciated – please email Joan K Lawrence or Christine Ensley. Admission is free but donations are welcomed. Look forward to seeing you on the 24th!

On November 5, the St. Andrew’s Players will be performing an original work, “Still At It—50 Years of Faith, Drama, and Laughter.” Participants will include former, present, and future Players. We are currently casting various dramatic and musical roles to include men, women, and children of all ages.Rehearsals will take place on most Sunday afternoons in October as well as November 2^nd and 4^th. Please consider joining us onstage or off. While no experience is necessary, we are looking for someone with technical experience to help with visual projections. If you are interested in being part of this production, in any way, please contact Jane Massant, at 703 975-6615. If not, please save the date and plan to come and be entertained.  

Glorious Companions will resume its weekly Wednesday morning meetings at 10:30 am in the Lounge on September 21. Please read through page 35 in our new book — A Severed Wasp — by Madeleine L’Engle. New members are always welcome. Please join us. You needn’t be “glorious”; we aren’t. Just be a “companion”!

The much-needed wifi upgrade to the campus is complete, which gives us greater signal, bandwidth, and flexibility to support our work today and into the future. We have a network for use by all who come to St. Andrew's; the credentials are:

Network name: SAEC-Access

Password: Andalsowithyou!

There are additional options available for ministry leaders who might need additional bandwidth and/or wired connections; contact the Parish Administrator or Mark Seip to learn more.

Thanks to Carol Kiranbay for hosting a wonderful meeting of the Murder Mystery Book Club on August 20! We enjoyed great food, fellowship, and a few trips down memory lane as we discussed Kate Charles' book Evil Intent. Next up is Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel by G.M. Malliet. This first book in a series about an MI5 agent-turned-vicar "sharply skewers the quintessential English village in a cunningly modern version of the traditional drawing room mystery. Wickedly entertaining, it’s the perfect choice for Agatha Christie fans." We'll meet in the early spring to discuss it, so there's plenty of time to dive into this newest choice. Happy reading!

This week we pray for: Trudy Koczyk, Henry Schmidt, Paul Thorton, Derek Cruz-Nagoski, June Dudley, Paul and Kate Bayes and the people of Ukraine.

We pray for the repose of the soul of Eve Lawrence, sister-in-law of Craig Lawrence, who died September 1.

We pray for the rose of the soul of Tanya Bartlett, sister-in-law of John Bartlett, who died September 6.

Would you like to add a name to the prayer list? If so, please email the church office with your request. Names will be kept on the prayer list for about a month unless otherwise specified, and will be published weekly in Shining the Light.   

This past Sunday we had wonderful turnout for our bagged lunch prep for PathForward. We assembled 50 lunches in record time thanks to our amazing team of volunteers. Stay tuned for information about next month's lunch prep opportunity.

The garden is doing well. John watered the garden on Tuesday. On Saturday, Susan, Kristie, Lydia, David, Teddi, Jen, Steve, John, Anderia, Nicole, Bre, Rachel, Sade, Doris, Dave, Anne, and Ted picked, packaged and delivered 129.5 pounds of kale, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes to Rock Spring Congregational Church.

We also weeded and repaired a tomato trellis. The weather was very pleasant and, in addition to our regular volunteers, 5 of our 17 volunteers were from the Junior League of Northern Virginia. Our poundage for the season is now up to 1,983.3 pounds Almost a ton!

Our next work day is scheduled for Saturday, September 10, starting at 9:00am (our alternate rain date is Sunday, September 11 at 11:00am). We plan to harvest our apples next week. To join us, please sign up through our Sign-Up Genius. See you in the garden!

If you are able to drive the donations to AFAC for a contactless delivery, please sign-up here. Here is a list of items AFAC accepts.Thank you to Carol Kiranbay for taking our most recent haul to AFAC.