A Message from our Rector
Dear Friends:
When Chris and I lived in Ohio, we were involved in a legislative effort to provide the same employment, service, and housing protections in the city of Springfield for LGBTQ folk that straight people have. Until that bill was passed, people could be evicted, fired, or denied service without recourse.
During this time, a local pastor from Springfield wrote a letter to the editor of the Springfield News-Sun that invoked the “biblical family” as a reason to deny these basic rights to LGBTQ folk. Chris responded with a letter in the newspaper asking WHICH biblical family was being referenced:
*Jacob’s? Jacob had 13 children with Leah (first wife), Zilpah (Leah’s slave), Rachel
(second wife) and Bilhah (Rachel’s slave)? All four women lived with Jacob at the same time.
*King Solomon? Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and the numerous children
from those unions, including the Queen of Sheba, who after meeting Solomon is said to have returned to Ethiopia pregnant and bore their child, King Menelik, who never met his father?
*Jesus’ own family, which was, shall we say, uniquely formulated?
We couldn’t find a copy of the letter Chris wrote in Ohio, so I asked him to recreate a close approximation for our weekly newsletter. You will find it below.
Governor Braun’s statement that “the nuclear family…has been the foundation of society since the creation of the world” suggests a need to read the Bible more thoroughly. The “nuclear family” as we know it is in fact a very recent model. And I will remind you that by bringing my 90-year old memory-impaired mother to live with us, Chris and I no longer live in a nuclear family as described by the governor and lieutenant governor of Indiana.
Jen+
God’s Family
News Item: Governor Braun declares June Nuclear Family Month
“The nuclear family…is God’s design for the family structure and has been the foundation of society since the creation of the world.”
-Governor Mike Braun’s executive order to declare June as Nuclear Family Month
For followers of Jesus, a man who failed to form a nuclear family of his own, this is a remarkable thesis.
That small fact aside, Scripture does not support this grand generalization. Most obviously, the Old Testament patriarchs, the heroes of ancient Israel, were polygamists. King David had scores of wives, and King Solomon hundreds, as well as concubines, and many of them foreign. The Bible presents these men as flawed in the eyes of God, but not because they had many wives.
Jesus did not condemn the patriarchs for their marriages, nor did he insist that the Jewish law of his day, which permitted multiple wives, be repealed. Jesus did express opposition to divorce and adultery as breaking a sacred covenant, and abhorred that divorce casually initiated by the husband (only men could initiate a divorce) could destroy the life of a woman with no resources and no livelihood. Yet as His own life story suggests, Jesus had much greater concerns in mind. In Luke 20:34, He is clear that marriage is an earthly institution, not part of the eternal kingdom of God. At other points he declares that the Good News will tear families apart, and that one must be prepared to forego honor, possessions and family to follow Him. It is blindingly clear that Jesus insisted on love and justice as the true foundation of a holy life on earth and in heaven, not a particular order of family life.
All this means that marriage is important, even sacred, but not essential to Christian life. Many men and women, past and present, have forsaken marriage and family for the sake of the Gospel. Do they undermine faith and society? Is a loving single father to be despised? Are two loving mothers a threat to children? It is hard to imagine Jesus opposing the precious gift of love.
-Chris Oldstone-Moore
Connect With Us
Rector’s Office Drop-In Time
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. Mondays are her Sabbath day.
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
In-Person Sunday Morning Worship Service, June 21, led by Rev. Mark Van Wassenhove,10:15 a.m.
You can stream the service via St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Greencastle, Indiana Facebook Page. Click on this link to view the Live Stream. We will start the Live Stream 5 minutes prior to the start of the service.
Click here for the service booklet for this service.
One License #A-741864
CCLI License #22315781
The Latest Updates
Stretch for Health Thursdays, 10.30, Hamilton Hall
Lee Stewart, long-time member of the community and a fellow pilgrim on the Saint Andrew’s 2024 pilgrimage, will share his routine for therapeutic stretching that has been at the core of his therapies for managing Parkinson’s disease. This stretching routine is a great benefit to general good health as well. Stretching can be done on a chair, on the floor, or while standing. We will meet for 30 minutes in Hamilton Hall; bring a yoga mat if you prefer stretching on the floor. All are welcome!
PRAYERS FOR OTHERS
If you have prayers that you would like offered on Sunday–prayers of thanksgiving, for those in trouble or sickness, or those who have died and those who grieve, please call in or send an email to Michelle. The names will be said aloud on Sunday for four consecutive weeks and then cycled off. If you would like the prayers continued, please tell Michelle and the names will be added to the long-term prayer list.
HYMN NAMES IN THE BULLETIN
In the coming weeks, you may notice a change in the way that hymns are designated in the service bulletin. The information at the bottom of the hymn includes a hymn name in capital letters. The hymn that begins “Jesus Christ is risen today” is set to the tune Easter Hymn. The tune for “Come, Thou Fount” is Nettleton. “Let all mortal flesh” is set in our hymnal to the tune Picardy, and both “Love divine, all loves excelling” and “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus” are set to Hrfrydol.
Our reasons for this change are simply pragmatic: the hymn names are shorter than the first lines, and fit better into our bulletins. But there is also a certain skill—and pleasure—to identifying tunes as well as words, in part because it highlights the artistry of the person who wrote the music. Be sure to look this week for this new feature to our bulletins.
BOOK AND BIBLE GROUP– on a break
We will be taking a break through the summer from our Tuesday afternoon gatherings. Keep your eyes peeled for announcements for occasional gatherings of Pub Theology when we will gather to share snacks, a cold drink, and conversation. Evening Prayer will still be celebrated at 4.00 pm on most Tuesdays.
EVENING PRAYER
Join us for Evening Prayer in the sanctuary on Tuesdays at 4:00. Evening Prayer is a wonderful service to wind down the day and move into the evening hours.
CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER
On Wednesdays at 1:00, we gather for about a half hour in quiet contemplative prayer. A leader introduces the prayer and a bell is chimed; we sit in prayer for twenty minutes until another chime sounds and then close with a spoken prayer. Feel free to come in any time between 1:00 and 1:20 to pray in silence in a lovely sacred space.
ALTAR FLOWER CALENDAR
An altar flower calendar is posted in Hamilton Hall. Sign up to sponsor the altar flowers to commemorate a birthday or anniversary, remember a loved one, or in thanksgiving for an important event. We ask a donation to help offset the cost of the altar flowers and other worship expenses. Be sure to tell the office your dedication so that it can be printed in the bulletin. Please make checks payable to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and in the memo field please put this information: Altar Flowers, person’s name, occasion, Sunday date you’d like for the flowers to be on the altar.
VESTRY MEETING MINUTES
If any of you are interested in what your Vestry is doing, there are two copies of each month’s minutes on the music stand in Hamilton Hall. Feel free to read and return!
SHOPPING LIST FOR NON-FOOD PANTRY
Please see the Non-Food Pantry Latest section of the newsletter for items most in need for this month. Meals and conversation in Hamilton Hall are going well. Patrons are now able to pick out items they most need. Your contributions help our budget go farther in helping meet the needs of those in Putnam County. Please scroll down to view the distribution dates and latest updates. If you can help with this ministry in any way, please contact Harriet Moore or Carl Huffman.
KROGER COUPONS
If you have any unwanted Kroger coupons, please bring them to Hamilton Hall and place in the window ledge near the “Little Library”. We would like to make them available to our Non-Food Pantry recipients so that they might be able to take advantage of them to help extend their food budget. Thanks in advance!
FREE DAILY DEVOTIONAL
We have some large print Day by Day daily devotionals in the sanctuary that you are free to take home for your personal devotions–and if we know that people would like copies, we can order the right amount. Many of you may also appreciate the on-line version of Day to Day. Click here.
Non-Food Pantry Latest
Saturday, June 27
• Noon to 2:00 p.m.
There will be a distribution in Hamilton Hall and light lunches will be served inside. We are grateful for all those who have worked so hard to obtain supplies for the Non-Food Pantry. Items are having to be purchased from a variety of sources making it much more expensive. Donations to help offset this extra cost will be gratefully accepted!
Top 3 Needed Items
Your prayers are asked for:
Haile Bane, grandson of Joanne Haymaker
Beth Benedix, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
+Tom Breidenthal
Cantonwine Family
Jennifer Clarke, friend of Patti Harmless
Diane * Judy * Angela Evans
Tom Kaiser, friend of Jen+ & Chris
Lynda, friend of Sarah Finlay-Black
Teresa Masten, friend of Karen & Jim Mannon
Sally Motsch, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
Gene Shaw, brother-in-law of Patti Harmless
Elizabeth & Natalie Sheffler, daughter & granddaughter of Page & Narda Cotton
Deloris Smith, friend of Emily Knuth
Jenny Smyth, niece of Patti Harmless
Luke Smith, son of Mark Smith
Skip Sutton
Eugene Swanger, friend of Jen+
Larry Taylor, former member of St. Andrew’s
Donald Voermans, father of Nick Voermans
Edwina Vose, friend of Jen+
Catherine Waggoner, friend of Jen+
Dwight Ziegler, uncle of Stephanie Gurnon
For the departed:
Mary Mountz
Heather Cantonwine
A celebration of Larry Sutton’s life will be held at the Putnam County Playhouse on June 27th from 1 to 3 PM. Please come to share the time with us or add your thoughts and memories of Larry.
Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: St. Philips, Indianapolis and Ms. Careth Flash, Senior Warden
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 Parish and school in Mithon.
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: The Church of South India (United)
Birthdays: Claudia Bulter, June 19; Cathryn Ensley, June 21; Tim Good, June 23
Anniversaries: Jennifer Everett and Rich Cameron, June 18
Special Events and Services
