Shining the Light

Dear St. Andrew's Community,

Rev. Dorota is away this week. In the event of a pastoral emergency, please contact the Rev. Dina Widlake at 571-236-9816.

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.

Why does Jesus tell listeners to hate their families in today's Gospel reading? Rev. John Baker notes that fast-paced change in our world makes it important for us to dream and imagine, to open our minds to new possibilities. With parables, analogies and assertions that shook people out of their comfort zones, Jesus sought to open minds in this way. He challenges us to consider what's more important than love of God, love of neighbor, and awareness of God's presence in our lives.

After a two month hiatus, our "First Sunday" monthly breakfast is back on Sunday, September 11 from 9:00-10:00am in the undercroft. Join us!

The next quarterly meeting of St. Anne’s Guild will be Tuesday, September 13 at 11:30 am in the lounge. We are pleased to have seminarian Brandon Nonnemaker as our guest speaker. He will be sharing his faith journey which has led him to seek ordination to the priesthood.  If you would like to learn more about the Guild and enjoy fellowship with Brandon and others in an informal setting, please know you are welcome to join us. Buffet lunch will follow the meeting, and dishes are always fun and delicious!  Bring a sandwich to share. Beverages and desserts are provided.

The community picnic is back! Join us for one combined worship service on Sunday, September 18 at 10:00 a.m., followed by a picnic, outdoor fun, and fellowship. The picnic will include games, crafts, face painting, balloon animals and more! Bring a dessert or side dish to share; burgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs and drinks will be provided. Bring friends, family, or neighbors -- all are welcome! RSVP and sign up to help here., or sign up on the bulletin board outside of Rev. Dorota's office.

Interested in helping make this celebration a success? Sign up here!

Join us for a series of five sessions intended to encourage Christians to speak and act on behalf of God's good creation. Using the House of Bishop's Pastoral Teaching on the Environment, the Bible, and the Book of Common Prayer, we will discover important ways that the church can respond faithfully to the mounting social and environmental challenges of our time.

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.

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!

Come to Creative Cauldron to find out!

Brandon Heishman and his husband, Josh Simon join their friends Sarah Anne Sillers and Andrew Kullberg in presenting Double Date: a Couples Cabaret. Friday, September 9 at 7:30. Tickets available at CreativeCauldron.org

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.

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”!

100^th Birthday Celebration

The next few Sundays a large card will be available for folks to send a message to Trudy. Even if you have not had the privilege of meeting her, please feel free to sign and send greetings as she reaches this milestone. Members of St Anne’s, Glorious Companions and Congregational Care will join Rev. Dorota on the 15^th to have communion with Trudy and present the card and gifts. 

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 Walter Ratcliff, former parishioner, who died August 14.

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.   

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.

The Diocese of Virginia will be hosting new Sacred Ground Circles beginning the week of September 11. Sacred Ground is a sensitive, prayerful resource that creates space for difficult but respectful and transformative dialogue on race and racism. It holds at its center a vision of Beloved Community where all of God’s children are honored, protected, nurtured and flourish. If you are interested in learning more about the program, contact the Rev. Dr. J. Lee Hill, Jr., diocesan Missioner for Racial Justice and Healing or Chris Cameron, member of the Ministry for Racial Justice and Healing. Register here.