Dear Friends in Christ, 

Our Holy Scripture states in many areas for us to pray and to “pray without ceasing” (Thessalonians 5:17). The power of prayer is incredible! What is it? Why do we pray? Does it work? 

While answers to these questions and more are multi-faceted at best and always known to God, one thing that we do know is that we are called together in community to pray. We pray each week with our “Prayers of the People,” we have an active Prayer Guild, and we each pray. Beyond what we learn in the Catechism on prayer (which I highly recommend reading on pages 856-57 of the Book of Common Prayer), prayer is the glue that holds the Church together in relationship with God. It is “responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words” (BCP page 856). 

How do you pray? For what do you pray? All are welcome to submit intercessions to our prayer guild (prayer@standrews.net) and invited to pray for those we name out loud and in our bulletin each week. Whenever we pay authentically to God, we accept an invitation into relationship and invite a closer presence with God. We are also joined in relationship with those around us, those who have come before, and those who will come. 

When we pray, especially in our corporate worship, we find ourselves in community seeking to become closer to God and following Christ. While we may not always get our wishes and desires, our prayers lead us into God’s will. 

With this brief note on prayer, I invite you to pray, on the weekends, each and every day, and for each other. (We may need a much longer series on prayer at some point!). Let us gather together in relationship as we seek to know Christ. 

Faithfully yours,

Masks are still required for everyone two and older. We do ask that if you are feeling ill to please stay home and follow along with our online services, which can be found at the links below.

@ 6:00 p.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite II

@ 8:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite I

@ 10:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite II

@ 9:30 a.m. – Holy Eucharist: Rite II (in-person only)

Note: When joining any of our Zoom meetings, please make sure your name is displayed.

2nd Note: If any of the service links above don't work, check our website for updated links.

Note the 3rd: All of our services are also available on our Facebook page.

Final payments are due by THIS Sunday, September 26th. You can pay online by clicking below, or by check (made out to St. Andrew’s, with "Shrine Mont" on the memo line). Your confirmation email will show you how much you owe. If you can't find that email, contact Michelle or Emily.

Contact: Amy Dutton (amy@standrews.net), Michelle Ramsdell (michelle@standrews.net), Emily Nein (emily@standrews.net)

Sunday School begins after the 10:00 a.m. service. This is roughly from 11:20 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Adult Forum follows the same schedule as Sunday School, though may run later depending on the topic and/or speaker. The Nursery and Pre-K classes meet during the service and during Sunday School. Kindergarteners can join the Pre-K class during the service if needed.

If you need help finding your way around the building, please ask one of our Ushers, or use the map that is printed with this week's bulletins.

Grades 9th - 12th (Conference Room)

Grades 6th - 8th (Room 5)

Grades 3rd - 5th (Rooms 6 & 7)

Kindergarten - 2nd (Rooms 1 & 2)

Pre-K (Room 3)

Also, remember to fill out the Registration Form as soon as possible. Forms can be returned to the envelope on the bulletin board next to the church office.

Contact: Christie Dasher & Stacey Peters (formation@standrews.net)

Assistance is needed in the Learning Center (Nursery (1-3) and Pre-K (3-5) classes). While our teachers for these two classes are paid employees, we need volunteers to act as assistants each week. Safe Church standards require at least 2 adults in every classroom. Volunteers do not need to be childcare experts, just willing to hold the occasional crying toddler and keep an eye out for wayward crayons going up noses.

Volunteers must be 14 years or older, fully vaccinated, and wear a mask while indoors. When the weather is nice, kids are allowed to play on the playground and don't need to wear their masks.

This is a great opportunity to meet new families and get to know our youngest parishioners. Teens can also earn service hours each week they help. And remember, the more people who sign up, the less often you have to help.

Sign up here to volunteer: tiny.cc/babywatch-fall21

Contact: Amy Dutton (amy@standrews.net)

We are in the process of recruiting teachers and superintendents. Please click here (tiny.cc/H6wpA) to sign up. We are so grateful for the adults who have shared their love of Christ in action by working with our children and youth over the years. We would love to see new faces join our group as well.

This is a rebuilding year for us here at St. Andrew’s and it is vital to reconnect with our children and youth. No experience is necessary. We have a curriculum that will be provided with student activity sheets/stickers. Just show up with a desire to have fun and explore/grow in your own faith. There will be wondering, delight, and God sightings in this ministry.

CURRENT NEEDS: 6 teachers in Kindergarten - 2nd grade class; 2 teachers in 6th - 8th grade class; 1 teacher in 9th - 12th grade class.

Contact: Christie Dasher & Stacey Peters (formation@standrews.net)

In Fairfax County, our transmission rates are staying relatively level (while not low) and our vaccination rate continues to increase. As of 9/23/21, 81.2% of adults 18+ have received at least one dose of a vaccine for Covid-19 (68.6 of total population). 74.1% of adults 18+ are considered fully vaccinated (62.4% of total population). Both the single does and fully vaccinated numbers continue to increase. 

Our transmission rates are in the Orange category according to the Brown School of Public Health (not the highest) with a an average of 15.6 cases per 100k over the past seven days (a slight decrease). According to the CDC, we are still in a High rate of transmission (highest level on their metrics) with 109.98 cases total per 100k over the past seven days. 

We will continue with our current practices of wearing masks while indoors, singing, and monitoring our own symptoms and potential exposure. 

Contact: The Rev. Will Packard (will@standrews.net)

I’m wearing two hats in composing this article—as a member of the annual stewardship committee and as chairman of the board that oversees our parish endowment.

Success in stewardship campaigns boil down to two key items. Renewals and new pledges. Of course, we want people to dig a little deeper but that usually takes care of itself. Renewals also seem to take care of themselves—people just need to be reminded to turn in their pledge cards a couple of times and our success rate is almost 100 percent every year.

I’d like to focus this article on new pledges. At some point, many of us made the shift from putting a little cash in the collection plate to making a modest annual giving pledge and slowly stepping things up over time. I know for Shepard and me it was a bit hard to understand what the point was—why did we need to turn in a card when we are already doing all the good we thought we could do?

The most practical point of the pledge cards is to give the Vestry a frame of reference so they can build an annual budget—a process that’s already in motion and will be finalized sometime in December. Yes, they can roughly project what the annual plate offering will look like but pledges tend to be stickier. People feel they’ve made a commitment and the Vestry can feel more confident in laying on things like youth formation activities, music programming, and giving to local anti-poverty programs as part of our outreach.

Did you notice that I snuck my second point of pledging in just a sentence or so ago? Pledging has the side benefit of deepening our commitment to our parish community and giving us a sense of ownership about what goes on inside and outside these four walls.

So how do you start? Make it easy on yourself. Step one—pray about it—ask for guidance—and sit with it for a day or two. Once you’re ready to act figure out what you’re already putting into the collection plate on a weekly basis and come up with an annual number. Use a pencil and write that on the pledge card and sit with it for another day or two. You might find you think you can do just a little more. As soon as you’re comfortable, ink in the details, bring the card to church in the envelope we provide and drop it into the collection plate.

I think you’ll appreciate doing all the good you can.

Contact: Pete Kirkham (stewardship@standrews.net)

All creatures great and small are invited to St. Andrew’s on Saturday, October 2nd, for our annual Blessing of the Animals! We will gather at 1:00 p.m. in the front parking lot. If it rains, we will meet in the Multipurpose Room (masks are required if we are inside). Invite your friends and neighbors and their pets to join us.

Contact: Emily Nein (emily@standrews.net)

We are gauging interest in holding Sacraments classes this Fall. This would consist of 2 one-hour sessions on Sunday afternoons. We will discuss the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Eucharist.

These classes are NOT necessary in order to take communion, but some people like to have them first so there is more understanding about it all. Even if your child has already been receiving communion, these classes can be helpful.

They are open to all ages but we find that it’s best for children ages 4 and older. If you are interested and would like for us to have this class, please email Amy.

Contact: Amy Dutton (amy@standrews.net)

On Sunday, September 26th, we invite all high schoolers (grades 9-12) to join us for a Youth Group reboot – a chance to reconnect and reimagine the youth group at St. Andrew’s. We will gather outdoors at the Peters’ home (Todd is a senior at Robinson). Come connect with other high schoolers and join in on some old fashioned fun. Save the Date: Sunday, September 26th, 5:00-7:00 p.m. Email for more information and to RSVP/get the address.

Contact: Stacey Peters & Christie Dasher (formation@standrews.net)

Join us in the Parish Hall after our 10:00 a.m. service this Sunday for our first Adult Forum of the 2021-2022 program year.

Our guest will be the Rev. Dr. A. Katherine Grieb, an American biblical scholar and Episcopal priest. She has taught New Testament and Greek at Virginia Theological Seminary since 1994, and is currently the new director of Center for Anglican Communion Studies (CACS) at VTS.

She will be preaching at the 10:00 a.m. service this Sunday, and then will be talking about the Book of James at the Adult Forum. We hope you all can join us.

Contact: Will Packard (will@standrews.net)

Contact: Michelle Ramsdell (michelle@standrews.net)

Please keep these members of our community in your prayers: 

Contact: Deborah England (prayer@standrews.net)