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Dear Friends in Christ,
The culmination of our 50th-anniversary occurs over the next two weekends! If it feels like we have plenty going on, it is because we do! Here are some of the celebrations and things we are doing over the next two weekends:
- Gala at the Country Club of Fairfax on Saturday night, November 12th.
- The Rt. Rev. Susan E. Goff visits for her last Episcopal visit to the parish as Bishop Suffragan and Ecclesiastical Authority on November 13th at 10:00 a.m.
- We bless and dedicate our new stained glass window and magnolia tree.
- Worship in Evensong with our previous music directors (and current director) at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 13th.
- Celebrate our 50th-anniversary service with the Feast of St. Andrew (transferred) on November 20th at 10:00 a.m. welcoming the Rev. Dr. Randall Prior as our preacher.
- Preparing a Time Capsule.
We do all of this celebrating in the next two weeks! As we engage in all of these activities, our general theme this year has been to celebrate and remember the last 50 years, be present in the here and now, and look towards our next 50 years and beyond in mission. Each Sunday in our celebration of the Holy Eucharist we also say in our memorial acclamation, "Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again." These three tenses in our life and in our faith are important, and we reflect upon our common life in Christ as we enter these three areas of our time over the next two weeks. It is in Christ that we remember, in whom we exist, and who we follow into the future.
I look forward to our continued celebrations with you!
Faithfully yours,
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Opening - Alleluia, sing to Jesus (Hymn 460)
Canticle - Surely it is God who saves me (Hymn 678)
Sequence - Lord, we have come at your own invitation (Hymn 348)
Offertory Anthem - I will sing with the Spirit (David Goodenough, b. 1968)
Hymn - Almighty Father, strong to save (Hymn 579)
Communion - We walk by faith and not by sight (Hymn 209)
Communion - Just as I am (Hymn 693)
Closing - God of grace and God of glory (Hymn 594)
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Worship Services & Formation | |
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Saturday, November 12th
@ 6:00 p.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite II
Sunday, November 13th
@ 8:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite I
@ 9:00 a.m. – Bible Study
@ 10:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite II & Confirmation
@ 11:20 a.m. – Sunday School
Wednesday, November 16th
@ 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.
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Thank you to everyone who has sent in their pledge cards or pledged online! As of today, we have received pledges from 96 families! If you are able, please send in your card or pledge online ASAP. We are getting the ball rolling with our 2023 budget and need your pledges to know how best to proceed.
Also, if you still have not received a pledge letter from us, please email Michelle so we know we have your correct address. A number of letters have returned as "undeliverable," and we want to correct them.
Thanks again!
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November is filled with joyous occasions to celebrate our beloved St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Join us for a final celebration of our 50th anniversary: a reception following the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, November 20th.
In addition to your delicious food donations, we will need help with food prep, hosting, serving drinks, and cleaning up. Please bring your food donations already plated so our kitchen team can attend the service as well. Thanks for all of you help! Sign up to help here: http://tiny.cc/u2j0vz.
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The St. Andrew’s Meal Support Committee provides meals to parishioners in need. We are looking to increase the number of teams supporting this committee. We work in teams of two, with you selecting your own teammate.
It is a meal-by-meal need rotation and the scheduled team purchases a fresh meal/or prepares a homemade meal and delivers the meal to the parishioner. Providing meal support in this rotational manner allows St. Andrew’s to aid parishioners in need, creates fellowship, and helps to evenly distribute the meal support requests across all teams. If you are interested or have questions, contact Ann DiMisa.
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Thanksgiving is weeks away, but ECHO is already planning to connect donors with families who struggle to provide a holiday meal.
St. Andrew’s has partnered with ECHO for many years, and we need your support. ECHO suggests that donors give grocery gift cards so clients can purchase foods their families prefer. Amy and Deb Braun will purchase the gift cards and deliver them to the ECHO clients in time for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Please support this effort by donating to the ECHO Holiday Meal Fund. Please send your donations to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 6509 Sydenstricker Road, Burke, VA 22015. The deadline to give is November 24th.
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Ordination and Consecration of the 14th Bishop Diocesan | |
The November PALs get-together will be on Thursday, November 10th from 9:30 - 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. | |
Bishop's Visit & Confirmation | |
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The Rt. Rev. Susan Goff will join us one final time (before her retirement) on Sunday, November 13th at the 10:00 a.m. service. As part of this service, we will confirm our newest members, as well as will bless our new stained-glass window and our new magnolia tree. We hope you can be with us (online or in-person) for this joyful occasion.
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As the final step before the crest of our 50th anniversary celebrations, every surviving music director since the inception of St. Andrew's will gather in one room for a blowout evensong, featuring music by St. Andrew's composers and favorite evening hymns. Join us on Sunday, November 13th, at 5:00 p.m., for the crown jewel of our choral worship with a once-in-a-lifetime lineup of Mel Kessler, Patrick Summers, Jay Wilcox, Aaron Goen, & Gabe Simerson, plus the St. Andrew's Choir.
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Women’s Fellowship is happy to begin our monthly coffee gatherings! All are welcome to join in for some casual chat time with your fellow parishioners!
Our first gathering will be at Lil Cow Cafe (near Lidl in the Rolling Valley Shopping Mall) at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 15th. RSVP’s are appreciated, but not required. See you there!
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Interment for Chris Conrad | |
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On November 17th, at 9:00 a.m., there will be a service for our friend Chris Conrad at the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel followed immediately by his interment at Arlington National Cemetery with full honors. This is the final part of our journey with Chris as he is laid to rest.
Please note that should you attend, Arlington National Cemetery requires photo identification and it may take some extra time to go through the gates.
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Join Women's Fellowship for lunch and holiday shopping on Saturday, November 19th. We'll meet for lunch at 11:00 a.m. at Spartan's Restaurant in Burke Village Center. Then we'll carpool from there at 1:00 p.m. to Fairfax High School for the Annual Holiday Craft Show sponsored by Fairfax City Parks and Recreation.
Admission to the craft show is $5 for one day, and $8 for two days, paid at the door. The show is in its 36th year and features local vendors, as well as those from around the country.
We'd love to see you for lunch, the craft show, or both! RSVP if you'll be meeting us for lunch so that we can ensure adequate seating.
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Auction of Bishop Goff's Artwork | |
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The auction of Bishop Goff's artwork ends in four days! All proceeds from the auction of the artwork, donated by Bishop Goff, will support racial justice ministries in the Diocese of Virginia. There are 33 pieces of art available to bid on. The auction will close on Saturday, November 12, at 6:30 p.m., so please be sure to get your bids in before it ends! Below is a link to the auction website.
Click here to visit the online auction site
Other Ways to Celebrate Bishop Goff
Letters of Appreciation
As we approach the time of Bishop Goff’s retirement, we are grateful for the many years of faithful ministry and leadership she has given to the whole church. Many people wish to share words of appreciation for Bishop Goff’s ministry among us. The Transition Committee will be collecting your writings, printing them, and collating them in a book that she can enjoy and revisit often in the years ahead. You may choose your personal or congregational stationery. Feel free to contribute brief cards or longer letters. The postal mailing deadline has passed, but letters are still being accepted electronically through Monday, November 14th. You may email them (attach as PDF or Word doc) to bishoptransitionva@gmail.com or to cindibartol@comcast.net.
Gifts to Bishop Goff’s Retirement and Travel Fund
When ordained clergy retire, it is traditional to gather financial gifts, known as a "purse," from grateful disciples among us. Bishop Goff has expressed an interest in travel following her retirement, so her "purse" would support this well-deserved interest. These gifts may be made using the diocesan online giving portal or by check, made out to the Diocese of Virginia, memo line "Bishop Goff's purse," and mailed to The Diocese of Virginia, 110 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23220.
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Service of Thanksgiving Celebrating our 50th Anniversary
January Layman-Wood | 50th@standrews.net
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Sunday, November 20th, at 10:00 a.m. we will celebrate St. Andrew’s Day. 50 years ago, on St. Andrew’s Day was our first worship service for St. Andrew’s, the new mission planted by St. Christopher’s, Burke. Come join our friends from the past and present as we celebrate 50 years of ministry in Burke.
The Rev. Randall L. Prior, our first Vicar and Rector will preach. Our worship will reach back into our history and forward to our next 50 years. Special music was commissioned for the occasion and of course, there will be a bagpiper.
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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!
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Thank you to an anonymous Parish member for this week’s submission for St. Andrew’s Accolades.
Thank you to Pat Conrad, and our exceptional English for Speakers of Other Languages teacher. You may have seen the banner as you drive in on Sydenstricker; every Tuesday morning our team of ESOL volunteers gathers to support new English speakers. Their dynamic leader, Pat Conrad, shared this with us: “Two years before COVID we had a new student start our program. She could not read or write in any language and had never been to school. Thanks to the great teaching of Eileen Simpson on Tuesday the student read a whole paragraph to me. We are all so proud of her and more importantly, she is so proud of herself. This is so much more than just learning a new language. We are so lucky to have teachers like Eileen.”
We are so lucky to have so many committed teachers in our ESOL program. Thank you to Eileen Simpson, Mary Gillian, Claire Palmer, Rosemary Phillips, Richard Sellers, Joan Snodgrass, Jackie Waddell, and their leader Pat Conrad for their work in this important ministry.
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.
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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
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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.
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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, Bob Gleason, 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
For those who have died:
Emily Marmalu (friend of Marlene Taggart's granddaughter)
Joe Johns (father of Sandy Gumbert)
Ben Logan Sisk (uncle of Bram Lillard)
Lin and Art Christianson (friends of Chris Umberger)
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