Weekly parish news and Sunday service information
From Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey - 12th C.  Wikimedia Commons
Sunday, March 14
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
Masks and social distancing required for in-person attendance.
Spring forward one hour this Sunday!
Holy Eucharist Rite I, 8 a.m.
In-person attendance for up to 25 worshippers
No advance signup required.
Audio recording available.
Holy Eucharist Rite II, 10 a.m.
In-person attendance for up to 25 worshippers
Please sign up in advance here.
Facebook Live at 10 a.m.
Worship Notes, Sunday, March 14
Fr. Ben Hankinson, Celebrant

Coffee Hour via Zoom, following the 10 a.m. service.

Communion station at the Lower Level Entrance, 12 Noon
Readings for March 14
  • Old Testament - Numbers 21:4-9
  • Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
  • Epistle - Ephesians 2:1-10
  • Holy Gospel - John 3:14-21
The Holy Gospel |John 3:14-21

Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
Make Your Offering!
Schedule for the Week of March 14

  • Time change, 2 a.m. Sunday morning - forward one hour.
  • Quilt Guild Challenge results display continues on website Event page.
  • Evening Prayer, Sunday, 7 p.m.+
  • Keeping a Holy Lent Class via Zoom, Wednesday, 6 p.m. (Link)
  • Noonday Prayer, Thursday, 12:05 p.m.+
  • Vestry Meeting, Thursday, 6:30 p.m. via Zoom
  • Morning Prayer, Friday, 9: a.m. +
  • Stations of the Cross, Friday, 12 Noon (Repeats until Good Friday)+
  • Holy Eucharist, The Feast of St. Joseph, Friday, 7 p.m.
  • Week-End Update Newsletter, Saturday p.m.
+ Designates a Facebook Live service
Looking Ahead
  • Palm Sunday, March 28, services at 8 and 10 a.m.+
  • Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, April 1, 2, 3.+
  • Easter Sunday, April 4, services at 8 and 10 a.m.+
  • Annual Meeting, first or second Sunday in May (tbd)
Lenten Observance:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Tenebrae?
Fr. Ben Hankinson
 
Continuing our anticipatory look at a jam-packed Holy Week, we start with the front end of the week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday guide us through the events between the Triumphant Entry and the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a time for getting our bearings. Each year we cover the whole of Jesus' life and ministry, 33 years lived out in the space of 1. But during Holy Week, we slow down from the breakneck pace, living out this week in real-time, walking day by day, moment by moment.
 
As we prepare to pivot into the Sacred Triduum, we have the unique service of Tenebrae on Wednesday evening. Tenebrae is rooted in the liturgy of the hours, what we would know as the Daily Office. Based on the night and morning offices of Matins and Lauds, the service was celebrated on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. In time, the service was simplified so that the three days' services were collapsed into one, and the morning offices were anticipated so that they were observed the evening before.
 
The most notable aspect of the service is the visual and auditory aspects. There is a special candelabra, called a 'hearse,' which holds 15 candles. A candle is extinguished after each of the Psalms and Canticles in the course of the service. Eventually, there is only one candle left on the hearse, and all other lights are extinguished in the church.
 
As the Passion unfolds in Holy Week, it can seem to us that darkness is overcoming the light, and this comes to the fore in Tenebrae as even the last candle is taken away and hidden in the darkness just as the light which has come into the world was hidden from view for a brief while. And there we wait, the passing moments often seeming longer than actually are. The silence seems to grow palpable as we begin to wonder, as the disciples wondered, what if this is it? What if there is no more?
 
Suddenly, the silence is shattered. There is an unexpected crash as if an earthquake has ruptured the fabric of the earth. As if a stone was rolled away from a tomb. As if darkness and death have been conquered as light and life shine forth once more in the world bidding us to go forth by the light of the same.
 
Is it a bit dramatic? Yes. But is there a greater drama than the ultimate triumph of good over evil, life over death, light over darkness? 
Archbishop Rowan Williams Inspires Study Day Discussions at Duke Divinity School
[The Living Church, March 8, 2021, by Sarah Puryear]

"The year 2020 brought two contemporary challenges to the fore: the pressing issues of the COVID pandemic and racial injustice. What does the Church’s faithful theological response to these issues look like? In the rush to respond compassionately to urgent questions, we run the risk of coming at them from an insufficiently Christian perspective.

In a recent virtual study day hosted by the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, Archbishop Rowan Williams cast a vision for theology that springs from the life of the Church and its experience of prayer, the sacraments, and Scripture. The virtual nature of this event enabled almost 800 people from 25 countries to participate online." Click here to continue.
Nabe Serves Community as Co-President of League of Women Voters!

Parishioner JoAnn Nabe is currently serving as Co-President of the League of Women Voters for the Edwardsville area. She is working to bring people out for the upcoming election on April 6 by writing a monthly column for The Intelligencer. JoAnn urges everyone to vote as our votes determine who is elected and they, in turn, make decisions on resources for our area.

The election of new mayors in Edwardsville and Glen Carbon and new school board members for our district are two of the most important items on the ballot. Issues like legal gambling (yes/no) are also on this election's ballot.

A voter guide and information on early voting are available online by clicking here. Early voting begins 15 days before the election. On this same page, voters can enter their address, and a sample ballot will open up.
Easter Offering
for Flowers and Ministries

Click here to open and print the Easter Offering Form then send your gift to St. Andrew's with the form. Alternatively, you may make your gift online here then send the form to St. Andrew's with a notation that your gift was made online.
St. Andrew's Communications
Communications Coordinator and Newsletter Editor-in-Chief, Marian Smithson
Newsletter Editor, Jane Weingartner | Newsletter Editor, Marianne Cavanaugh