Thoughts on Candles, Shepherds, and More

Some of you might have noticed that I’ve been on a metaphorical kick lately. Or more succinctly that I frequently preach both with and about metaphors. It seems to me that all theology and much of Sacred Scripture is metaphorical by design. After all, how can one speak about the “unknowable” except through metaphor? Or again more succinctly and in the words of a favorite theologian, Karl Rahner, God is best described as “Absolute Mystery.”

Lest you object or wonder, consider this – last Sunday Jesus called himself a “good shepherd” and this Sunday he’ll describe himself as the “true vine.” Other Biblical passages use a wide assortment of images and objects to speak of God’s presence and actions in our world.

So I want to briefly share a little piece found in yesterday’s New York Times. In answer to the question, “where does a candle go when it burns?”, we discover that through the burning process 99.9% of a candle becomes carbon dioxide and water vapor and 0.1% smoke, soot, and other gases.

The Times piece continues, “as a candle burns, the CO₂ and water vapor it produces will cool and mix into the air in the room, becoming indistinguishable from any other molecule of CO₂ or water. Over the next few hours, as the air in your room is exchanged with the air outdoors, the molecules from your candle will escape the room and begin to disperse into the atmosphere. After about a year, atoms from your candle will have spread completely around the globe. For the next few years, every time someone takes a breath of air, they’ll be breathing in a few carbon atoms from the wax and a few oxygen atoms from the air in your room.”

Because light is such a prevalent and oft-used Biblical metaphor, I really appreciated learning this. If our faith and love are light (think candlelight) then there is a literal sense in which our faith and love can and indeed do spread far and wide, even globally! Kind of cool, huh?

Blessings and happy shining…

Mark


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Prayers and Reflections for the Easter Season

We have heard that the daily reflections and scripture readings provided during Lent were appreciated. Those of us writing them have also found it an enriching experience and have decided to continue. The meditations are written by persons from Saint Andrew’s, Gobin UMC and Beach Grove UMC. The daily meditations will be in the newsletter each week and go from Wednesday to Tuesday, except for Sunday. Whether you enjoy these every day, or as the Spirit moves you, may this resource continue to bring you spiritual food for the journey. Blessings!

A Heartfelt Thank You to Volunteers and Friends!

We had such a wonderful week leading up to today’s Non-Food Pantry! It was Supermarket Sweep and we (and the other members of the Putnam County Pantry Coalition) got a lot of donated product. We also got donations of products and money this week from the Emergency Food Pantry and the Period Project, as well as individual friends of the NFP! Thanks so much to everyone who supported us this month!

Thanks to our community’s generosity, we were able to give out a lot this month: 244 bags, 180 bottles of cleaning products, packs and packs of diapers and baby wipes, feminine hygiene, and incontinence products.

This was the last NFP for the DePauw volunteers before they go home for the summer, so please be on the lookout for my email next month asking for volunteers for May’s distribution day, May 29th.

I hope you are all well and will get to spend some time outside this coming week; it looks like it will be beautiful!

All best,

Kate Berry

New St. Andrew’s Book Study Beginning Soon

If asked, what’s the first prayer which comes into your head? Chances are most people will answer “The Lord’s Prayer.” How about you?

While “The Lord’s Prayer” is the best-known Christian prayer, have you ever wondered why this is so? Would it surprise you to know that it is as much a Jewish as a Christian prayer? Would you be surprised to learn that it is “both a revolutionary manifesto and a hymn of hope?”

Beginning on Wednesday evening, April 28, please join us for our next St. Andrew’s Book Study as we read and discuss The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of The Lord’s Prayer by John Dominic Crosson.

As before, our Book Study will occur at 7:00 p.m. on the following Wednesdays: April 28, May 12, and May 26. If interested and needing a copy of the book, please contact Renee at the Parish Office or Fr. Mark at frmark1988@gmail.com.

 

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Sunday Worship, May 2

You can connect to the service via Zoom. Click on this link to connect. If you have not used Zoom before, you will be prompted to download Zoom, go ahead and do that. When you enter the meeting you should be able to see and hear others and others can see and hear you. If you come in a little late, please listen for a moment before speaking. In order to see everyone, go to Gallery view (upper right on PCs and upper left for Macintosh). When we get started everyone except the speaker will be muted. If you are reading or playing music, please be sure to unmute yourself.

If you are connecting via telephone dial 301-715-8592 and when prompted enter the Meeting ID: 847 8600 1703 and press #, then enter the password: pray and press # again.

Click here for the service booklet for May 2

Non Food Pantry Latest

Saturday, May 29
• Noon to 3:00 p.m.
There will be a drive through distribution and no lunch. Kate Berry is coordinating the distribution. We are very grateful to Martha Rainbolt, Carl Huffman, Karen Hirt Mannon, and Christiane Wisehart who have worked very hard to obtain supplies for the Non-Food Pantry. Kroger is not able to acquire enough products for us so the items are being purchased from a variety of sources. This is much more expensive. Donations to help offset this extra cost will be gratefully accepted!

Top 4 Needed Items
  • Diapers (Sizes 2 and 5)

  • Feminine Hygiene Products

  • Poise Pads (Size 4)

  • Paper Towels

Your prayers are asked for:

Lorrie Anderson, cousin of Joanne Haymaker
Beth Benedix, friend to many of us at Saint Andrew’s
Jo Ella Burns, friend of Terry Noble
Douglas Butler, brother-in-law of Claudia Butler
The family of Eric Fladeland, friend of Tim and Caroline Good
The family of Tom Gibson, brother of Gwen Morris
The family of Micah Grimm, friend of Zac and Savannah Johnson
Mary Ellen Gurnon, aunt of Daniel and Stephanie Gurnon
Rena Hale, sister of Thea Warren-Simpson
Steve Jones
Keith Keysor, friend of Andy Cullison
Lisa Breese Kincaid, daughter of Bob and Mimi Breese
Grayson Lyons, great nephew of Peggy Angleton
Art Mannon, brother of Jim Mannon
Jill McDermott, mother of Jim and Karen Mannon’s son-in-law
Stanley Morris
Mary Mountz
Marilyn Mourouzis
The family of Bruce Ploshay, friend of Page and Narda Cotton and former member of St. Andrew’s
Gordon Redden
Jordan Sanders, sister of Jim Ensley
The family of Jeff Sheffler, son-in-law of Page and Narda Cotton
The family of Peter Staats, friend of Suzanne Hassler
Skip Sutton
Sydnor Thompson, brother of Harriet Moore
The family of Phyllis Wright, grandmother of Zac Johnson

Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Saint Philip’s, Indianapolis: The Rev. Michelle Roos, Rector.

Our companion dioceses: The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil: The Most Rev. Mauricio Jose Araujo De Andrade, Primate of Brazil and Bishop of Brasilia. The people and Diocese of Haiti and Saint Andre’s in Mithon.

Anglican Cycle of Prayer: The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and The Middle East.

Birthdays: Gordon Redden, May 7

Anniversaries: None.

GCYG

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