Liturgical Calendar and Liturgical Ponderings

Dear Friends:

“Purple and green, red and white, are the colors of the year…

Green is the growing time…”

We are in the Growing Time, officially called the Season After Pentecost or Ordinary Time. This time is marked by green, the color of growth and change.

We are marking Ordinary Time 2025 with a trial service sheet that saves 66%-75% of the paper currently used for Sunday service sheets—and streamlines office work for both Renee and me, giving us time for other things.

Starting Sunday, June 22^nd through August 31,

• We will use a one page service sheet (rather than three or four page service sheet)
• Scripture readings will be on a separate sheet of paper. Those who want to read (instead of simply listen) to the scripture passages can pick up the scripture readings with the service sheet. Let us know if you wanted a scripture sheet and we will print more the next Sunday.

Some reflections on leaning into a growing time:

• One of the glories of our liturgy is that it is the work of the people. This is the literal meaning of “liturgy.” This is not a play or a concert where the congregation sits passively, but living praise and worship in real time
• We’ll take the time needed as we adapt to a new format
• Keep those ribbons at their assigned pages to help the next person who uses that BCP or Hymnal 1982
• Please take note of unfamiliar faces in church and offer assistance with the service
• Give yourself a few months to adjust—but also plan to offer your honest feedback to me and to members of the Worship Committee: Barbara Paré, Dennis Knuth, Kathy Smiley, Martha Rainbolt, Jim Ensley, and Katie Farris

We have visitors to our church who remark on the joy of worshiping in a church where the congregation participates. I’ve chosen Prayer C as the Eucharistic Prayer for this first part of Pentecost, which is the most interactive of our Eucharistic prayers, and which lifts up the God of Creation and the glory of the created order. I am excited to see how our new service sheets change our sense of connection to each other and across time and space through Growing Time.

We are looking forward to this summer, to a new experience of liturgy and a growing familiarity with the BCP, and to your thoughts and comments as we pass through this growing time.

In peace,

Jen+

Advanced Liturgical Calendar: Marking Sundays after Pentecost

What season are we in? What Sunday is it? Ordinary Time? Season after Pentecost? Season after Whitsun? Growing Time? Propers 3, 4, 5, 6…?

There are various ways we might count Sundays between the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Christ the King:

Count Sundays after the Feast of Pentecost

The First Sunday after Pentecost is always Trinity Sunday; after that comes the 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost, the 3^rd Sunday after Pentecost, and so on until the Last Sunday after Pentecost (always Christ the King Sunday)…followed by the First Sunday of Advent in November or December. This method is not connected to the regular calendar: Easter and Pentecost are “moveable feasts,” determined by the lunar calendar. Thus “2^nd Sunday after Pentecost” changes depending on the date of Easter: this year, June 22 is “2^nd Sunday after Pentecost”, last year, June 2; next year, June 7.

Count Sundays by the Lectionary linked to a Specific Date

The other way to name Sundays between Pentecost and Christ the King is linked to the solar calendar. Following a three-year cycle, each Sunday of the year has been assigned certain scripture readings. This cycle of scripture is called a “lectionary,” and the lessons of given weeks are called “Propers.” The Sunday that falls closest to June 22 is always Proper 7, and in Year C, the scripture of Proper 7 is 1 Kings19:1-15 (get ready for Elijah, Jezebel, and Ahab!), Psalms 42 & 43, Galatians 3:23-29, and Luke 8:26-39, (the account of the Gerasene who was possessed by demons that left him and entered a herd of pigs). No matter when Easter and Pentecost fall, the Sunday closest to June 29 is always Proper 8, the Sunday closest to July 6 is Proper 9, and so on. Christ the King Sunday is always Proper 29.

Typically, the scripture you hear is repeated once every three years. Over three years you will hear almost 90% of the Gospels. The lectionary ensures that we grapple with more challenging Bible passages rather than shying away from discomfiting or embarrassing passages. The lectionary also has made me realize how the lessons in the lectionary continue to be relevant in different times (I am now starting my fifth three-year cycle of lectionary preaching, I think!).

Jen+

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. Rev. Jen will be away June 18 – June 20 and June 23 – 28. She is available for emergencies during her time at Waycross June 23 – 28.

NON-FOOD PANTRY MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES

July 23 & July 24, 2025 Volunteers needed to sell State Fair tickets during “Fairs Care” at the Putnam County Fair. The Putnam County Pantry Coalition splits the profit from ticket sales with participating pantries. Last year our portion of the proceeds was able to pay for two months of NFP lunches. Please contact Fred Vallowe, (618) 927-6703, for sign-up details.

TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY

The Book and Bible Group has begun again, meeting at 4:30 p.m. most Tuesday afternoons with Evening Prayer celebrated at 4:00 p.m. The next one will be Tuesday, July 1. NOTE: No Bible Study on Tuesday, June 24.

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 top of the piano in Hamilton Hall. Feel free to read and return!

SHOPPING LIST FOR NON-FOOD PANTRY

Please add razors, shaving cream, and underarm deodorant to your shopping list for the NFP for the month of June. If you are donating adult pull-ups/briefs, they should be the ones without tabs. 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. The next Non-Food Pantry will be Saturday, June 28 from noon – 2:00 p.m. If you can help with this ministry in any way, please contact Harriet Moore or Fred Vallowe.

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.

ON-GOING COVID PROTOCOL

We continue to respond to both our county’s current CDC designation and to the current variant. Masking is optional. 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. 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: