Deepening of focus
Keen preparation
Attention to the path below our feet
Respect for the destination at hand
Can transform even the most ordinary journey into a sacred journey, a pilgrimage.

–Phil Cousineau

Lent is a pilgrimage through time, a journey that happens in parallel to the road to Jerusalem for Jesus and the disciples. Lent invites us to simplify and to notice our daily lives with more intention and purpose, to recognize and cultivate our connections with God and with those around us.

One of the beautiful messages of the Incarnation is that the inside the most plain and most ordinary parts of our lives is a rich, beautiful, meaningful center. Simple, plain, and ordinary doesn’t mean easy: this takes practice, a rhythm, a discipline.

This Lent I invite you to a modified monastic practice that is intended to help you slow down and notice your life. Look through the suggestions below, choose one or all of them as your Lenten discipline for this year, and see what happens. These practices could be shared by a household, or you could reach out to a friend and support each other in your practices. I would love to share your observations and experiences of your practice.

Note: Better to choose a single practice that looks easy and stick with it for the 40 days of Lent than to try to keep everything going and drop all of them!

1. Practice the arts of attention: focus on eating

If you usually watch TV, engage your phone, or read while you eat, try only eating. Eat slowly and insure that you do so by
(1) completely chewing and swallowing one mouthful of food before placing more food in your mouth, &
(2) putting your fork or spoon down on your plate between each mouthful.

2. Practice the art of renewing yourself every day: commit to a spiritual practice of prayer each day

Two possibilities:
a. Say the Daily Office/Morning Prayer every morning. You can find this online here https://dailyoffice.wordpress.com/
or here: https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/pray
b. Each evening do an “examen,” going through the day and bringing up what you most cherish about the day, and what you most regret on the day. Mark a small scrap of paper and put it in a bowl or designated box (empty kleenex box?). We will burn all the scraps in the fire pit during Holy Week.

3. Practice the art of considering yourself in relationship to others.

Each day do an act of kindness for others—anything from putting trash from the floor into a can, intentionally holding a door, buying lunch for a hungry person. Keep a private list of these random (or intentional) acts of kindness. During Holy Week, we will bury them in the garden with spring flowers.

4. Practice the art of deepening knowledge and familiarity with sacred texts

Carefully read a Bible passage each day. You can choose one of the scripture passages from the Daily Office (https://dailyoffice.wordpress.com/). These, especially the Gospel reading, are mostly continuous through the week, so you will follow the story in the Bible. Read the passage through 3 times each day:

–note a word that comes to mind
–note any situations that come to mind
–if you wish, write down question(s) or observations about the passage

5. Practice the art of gratitude

Keep a gratitude journal, writing each morning or evening something for which you are grateful. If you have a short list (a word that sums up the entry) we will bury those with spring flowers.

Finding life is very much about learning to flourish each day, with each breath. As you move into your eating, or reading sacred text, or praying, or acting with kindness, you will find moments of your life becoming not only prayerful, but a living prayer.

Blessed pilgrimage,

Jen+

Instructed Eucharist 2.0: Rich Tradition, Layered Meanings – The Liturgy of the Word

Our typical Sunday worship is divided into two distinct parts. Part I, which begins with the Prelude and ends with the Peace, is called the Liturgy of the Word or the Word of God. We usually use Rite II (the more contemporary language version for celebrating the Eucharist), and you can find the Liturgy of the Word for Rite II from page 355 to 360 in the BCP. The second part of Sunday worship is called the Liturgy of the Table or the Holy Communion and is found from pages 361 to 366.

The Liturgy of the Word includes study, remembrance, prayer, and learning to apply eternal truths to our modern lives. You could think of it as a time of remembering who God is and who we are—a time to learn, pray, and reflect.

Here’s how the Liturgy of the Word unfolds:

1. We greet each other and affirm why we are here: to worship God who is known to us in different forms which we name Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We offer praise.
2. We pray to have open hearts and minds—and to hear the particular words of today’s scripture.
3. We hear selections of Holy Scripture from four different categories:
   a. The Hebrew Bible
   b. A psalm
   c. A letter written by believers to members of the early church
   d. A Gospel

These four readings give us a picture of the challenges that human beings have always faced, and of God’s healing and saving action in the midst of all those troubles.

4. After the scripture reading we hear a sermon that helps us connect their message to our problems and the ways that God acts in our lives today.

After the sermon we say the Nicene Creed, the Prayers of the People, the Confession, and the Peace. These final parts of the Liturgy of the Word

• proclaim who we are as the church all across the world, and all through the centuries
• ask God for help and thank God for blessings
• say that we are sorry for our mistakes
• show our wish for harmony with each other.

The Liturgy of the Word is both a time of instruction and renewal, but also preparation for Communion, which follows in the Liturgy of the Table.

Jen+

Tuesday 4:30 p.m. In-Person & 6:30 p.m. Zoom Bible Studies & Lenten Readings

For the Lenten reading, we will look at Marcus Borg and John Crossan’s The Last Week. This book details Jesus’ life from his triumphal ride into Jerusalem to the cross, and will be excellent preparation for the events of Holy Week. NOTE: No Bible Studies on February 21 due to Shrove Tuesday.

Jen+

We have upgraded our Sunday worship online streaming option.

You will find our worship service being streamed from our Facebook Page or continue to go to St. Andrew’s website and be redirected from the link on the front page.

Rev. Jen has set her office drop-in day as Wednesday of each week from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. for anyone who would like to stop in and visit. You are always invited to make an appointment for a time convenient for you. Also, she has chosen Mondays as her Sabbath day.

Sunday Morning In-Person Worship Service, February 19, led by Rev. Dr. Jennifer Oldstone-Moore, 10:15 a.m.

You can stream the service via St. Andrew’s Facebook Page. Click on this link to view the Live Stream. We will start the Live Stream at 10:10 a.m.

Click here for the service booklet for February 19.

FEBRUARY 21: CALLING ALL TALENT: SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKE SUPPER

You are invited to at St. Andrew’s Talent Show and Pancake Supper on Shrove Tuesday, February 21. Pancakes and other pre-Lenten delicacies will be hot off the griddle by 5:30; we will begin the talent portion by 6:00. We welcome all manner and level of talent. Come plan an instrument, demonstrate your origami skills, and be ready to cheer on the other talents at St. Andrew’s.

TUESDAY BIBLE STUDIES – 4:30 P.M. IN HAMILTON HALL & 6:30 P.M. VIA ZOOM

Bible Studies continue on Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 in Hamilton Hall and evenings at 6:30 via Zoom at this link. On February 28 we will continue our deep dive into questions of salvation–and hell. We will be reading Rob Bell’s Love Wins, chapters 1 and 2. After we finish Love Wins we will read C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce (Lewis’s rendering of what hell is–and isn’t). NOTE: No Bible Studies on February 21 due to Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper.

ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICES: INVITING YOU TO OBSERVE A HOLY LENT

Ash Wednesday is on February 22. We will have services in the Sanctuary at 12:00 noon and 6:30 p.m.

NEW ZOOM LINK

The new link can be found on the St. Andrew’s website at the very bottom of the last page. Click on the Zoom icon to join as an attendee.

BUDGET PRESENTATION FEBRUARY 19 AND ANNUAL PARISH MEETING FEBRUARY 26

In order to streamline the Annual Meeting on February 26, we will have a presentation immediately following today’s service on the 2023 St. Andrew’s budget. You are invited to come with your questions and comments. The Annual Meeting will be Sunday, February 26.

COMMUNION AT THE WATERS

Once a month Sunday services have resumed at The Waters. The next service will be this Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 – 2:45 p.m. If you’d like to help with this ministry in any way, please contact Rev. Jen or Renee. All are welcome to attend!

ON-GOING COVID PROTOCOL

We continue to respond to both our county’s current CDC designation and to the current variant. Masking is optional. Those who serve bread and wine will mask so that anyone who comes to the altar can feel secure. Decisions on COVID policy have moved from the Reconvening Committee to Rev. Jen and the Wardens.

We have heard that the daily reflections and scripture readings provided during Lent were appreciated. The meditations are written by persons from Gobin UMC and Beech Grove UMC. They 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!

Click here to view the readings and accompanying links.

Your prayers are asked for:

I would like to discuss our returning to communion by wine via the common cup.

Background: The Diocese of Indianapolis has stated that we may return to full communion (both bread and wine), but that receiving the wine can be by common cup only. Several parishioners have had questions about this. Here’s what I’d like you to know at this point.

• The Vestry voted and approved our new COVID guidelines recommended by the Regathering Committee.
• We might use the words “full communion” to indicate that we are finally back to both bread and wine, but it has ALWAYS been true that taking either one is a complete communion. You do not need both to fully commune.
• The choice is yours, Eucharist by Eucharist. You can decide to let the cup pass because you have a cold; if you are worried about others you can pass; you can wait until we return to intinction. Just cross your arms over your chest—or just shake your head and quietly demur.

Yours in health, restoration, liturgical engagement, and literature review,

Rev. Jen