Holy Eucharist Rite II, Sunday, August 9
Live-streamed at 10 a.m.
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Holy Eucharist Rite I, Sunday, August 9
In person worship at 8 a.m.
Open to thirty-five Parishioners (no registration required)
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Worship Notes
- August 9, Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Fr. Ben Hankinson, officiating
Kevin Babb, Eucharistic Minister
Henry H. Evans, Organist
- Coffee Hour via Zoom, following the 10 a.m. service.
- Communion will be distributed on the back lawn of the church from 12 noon to 12:30 p.m.
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Worship Information: Tenth Sunday of Pentecost
- Old Testament: 1 Kings 19:9-18
- Psalm 85:8-13
- The Epistle: Romans 10:5-15
- The Holy Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
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The Holy Gospel |
Matthew 14:22-33
Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
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Make Your Offering Online
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Schedule for the Week of August 9
- Chat with the Rector via Zoom, Thursday, 10 a.m.
- Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin, Saturday, 7 p.m. in person attendance; maximum of 35 worshippers. Service leaflet will be available online.
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A Snapshot
Nineteen seventy-six was, as you’ll remember, our country’s bicentennial year. Among the ways in which that stirring occasion was observed was through the burial of time capsules. St. Andrew’s did not escape this fad.
The Edwardsville Township Democratic Club requested that every organization in the township prepare a one-page document containing its vital information. These were to be buried on July 4th in a time capsule at City Hall. Dick Norrish, the subject of last week’s From the Archives article, composed such a document for St. Andrew’s. The contents may be of interest, particularly to older parishioners.
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Following a summary of St. Andrew’s early history, the document turned to the near past and the 1976 present. Our rector was Fr. Stephen E. Weissman, called to St. Andrew’s the previous year who, with his wife Jackie and three of their five children, resided at “the historic Benjamin Stephenson House.” Two other children were young adults living in Ohio.
Wayne Brammeier was serving as rector’s warden and Dick, as junior warden. Other vestry members included Rick Forkner, Lucille Hopkins, Willie Pyke, Margaret Ruffner, Eleanor Schweizer, William Southwick, and Ronald Ward. Dick noted that in 1969 Eleanor Godfrey had been elected as St. Andrew’s first female vestry member, followed in 1971 by Roy Peterson as its first Black. It was at about the same time, Dick noted, that girls had first become acolytes.
In 1976, 58 families with 125 communicants comprised the congregation. Church-school attendance averaged 35 pre-school through junior- high (no “middle-schools” in those days) children per Sunday. Marcia Pullin was church-school superintendent.
Other parishioners holding offices beyond vestry membership were Pat Sim (treasurer), Mary Jane Helsel (vestry secretary), Joe Sim, Charles Schweizer, Lionel Starkes, Arven Saunders and Marion Kumler (lay readers). Gary Mahon was serving as organist and choir master, while Irene Mindrup oversaw the altar guild.
St. Andrew’s budget for the bicentennial year was $31, 471, the equivalent of $145, 716 in 2020.
A time capsule is a means by which the present attempts to communicate with the future. We are 1976’s future. Do you think Norrish’s statement communicates anything of importance to us? -Jim Weingartner
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UTO Ingathering: August 9 to 16
The United Thank Offering fall ingathering will take place from August 9 to August 16.
UTO envelopes are available in the Narthex. Parishioners wishing to contribute may also send checks to the office payable to St. Andrew’s with UTO in the memo line. Online contributions can also be made via the parish website.
The Blue Box Prayer
Almighty God, I give you praise for blessing me in many ways.
Create in me a grateful heart and with this gift a blessing start.
Amen.
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Episcopal News Service
House of Bishops: A Word on Protest
and Federal Policing
{Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs, August 4} The House of Bishops met virtually July 28-29, 2020. The following statement was adopted on July 29. While the situation on the ground in Portland has changed, the bishops believe it is important to share their statement about protest and policing:
Blessed be the Lord! for he has shown me the wonders
of his love in a besieged city.—Psalm 31:21
We bishops gathered virtually on July 28 and 29 in the midst of an unprecedented series of public moments in the United States: an ongoing pandemic causing great physical, emotional, and economic suffering; continuing protests over the use of deadly force by police, especially in communities of color; and an expanding investigation into the depth and extent of systemic racism in our national life and history. Any one of these would be a major disruption in American national life. The confluence of all of them has been truly world-changing, and has left some angry, others hopeful.
If there is one event during the time we met which encapsulated all the anxieties and aspirations of U.S. bishops in the House, it is the situation in Portland, Oregon and other cities. Even as we were meeting the mostly nonviolent protests in these cities continue, as does the deployment of unmarked, anonymous federal officers there.
We Episcopalians stand in a creative tension with regard to civil authority. We are the inheritors of an established church tradition and so it is our longstanding custom to honor legitimate government. At the same time, we follow One who challenged the civil authority of his own day.
The national and international conflicts of the twentieth century have taught us the value of protest and civil disobedience. The Civil Rights movement of the mid-twentieth century was built on Christian social principles. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
We certainly share and understand the concern for protection of life and property. What troubles us is the unprecedented nature of the federal response to a largely peaceful protest. The federal forces deployed in Portland and elsewhere are unidentified and patrol in unmarked rental cars. They detain and arrest protesters without probable cause. They are specifically uninvited and rejected by the elected civil authorities of where they are deployed.
As bishops we serve both as civic leaders and pastors. We are concerned both for the health of our body politic and for the suffering and injustice we see in our streets. We commit ourselves both to advocate for continued nonviolence on the part of the protesters across the United States and for a return of policing authority to local agencies who are known by and accountable to the people’s elected representatives. Respect for the rule of law cuts both ways: protesters must respect life and property; authorities must abide by due process.
The United States is not the first nation to face these challenges, and it will not be the last. But the church cannot remain silent when we see such flagrant abuse of civil power deployed against those who stand for justice and peace and against systemic institutional racism. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theologian who gave his life standing with those who challenged merciless power masquerading as legal authority, “Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak.”
May we all, in our shared witness to the love, justice, and reconciliation proclaimed and embodied in Jesus Christ, do all in our power to return the streets of all our cities to the peace of the heavenly city toward which we walk. And in this time of unique challenges and opportunities, may we continue to hold before us the vision of love and justice which have inspired Jesus and all his followers from his day to ours.
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The St. Andrew's Week-End Update, a weekly emailed newsletter, is designed to update parishioners on church activities. Please send news items to Jane Weingartner
by 11 a.m. on Tuesday to have them appear in the following Friday's newsletter.
Newsletter Editor Jane Weingartner
Newsletter Editor, Marianne Cavanaugh
Newsletter Editor and Designer, Marian Smithson
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