Dear Friends:

Our Book and Bible group is finishing Celtic Christian Spirituality, an introduction to a vein of Christian thought and practice that connects to the blessings of every day life.

A modern theologian and poet, the late John O’Donohue, wrote a book To Bless the Space Between Us. It is both a book of blessings of the ordinary as well as extraordinary moments of transition in our lives, and also an invitation to move through life being one who scatters blessings as lavishly as Jesus’ sower cast seeds everywhere. Those of you who have accompanied St. Andrew’s blessings of “utility areas” (i.e. the space for trash bins in back) and of the newly refurbished Advent House bathroom know that I do my best to lean into this mode of embracing our small, beautiful, heartbreaking, and blessed lives.

Today I share with you a blessing that I heard O’Donohue read in this wonderful conversation with Krista Tippett https://onbeing.org/programs/john-odonohue-the-inner-landscape-of-beauty/ I hope it touches you as deeply as it has me.

One of my favorite lines has a strange word in it:

“When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you…”

A “currach” is a coracle or small round boat. There was a tradition of pilgrimage in the Celtic regions in which the pilgrim would simply sit in the boat and let the currents take her wherever, finding grace and beauty in a destination unchosen but embraced. I love the sense of a “currach of thought”—of unruly or meandering thinking that takes my heart and mind who knows where, perhaps making me feel that I am going to sink in the “ocean water” morass of overwhelming emotions and thoughts—only to find a path of moonlight on the water to lead me back to myself. It is a kind of walking on the water…

In peace,

Jen+

Beannacht (“Blessing”)
John O’Donohue

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue,
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!

The “second American Independence Day,” Juneteenth, celebrates the emancipation of enslaved Africans in America. It was on June 19^th, 1865, close to two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation that some 250,000 African Americans in Texas learned that they were free. Juneteenth has grown from a locally observed celebration to a Texas state holiday in 1980, and today to a holiday observed by 47 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C.

Jesus began his ministry reading a prophecy from Isaiah 61:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’

Juneteenth is a truly American celebration, and a call to me as an American Christian. Some have represented this call by placing an image of the cross side by side with the lynching tree. For many decades, the threat of lynching was used to dominate, instill terror, and subjugate Black Americans so that even after Emancipation they could not live freely. Theologian James Cone writes, “I believe that the cross placed alongside the lynching tree can help us to see Jesus in America in a new light and thereby empower people who claim to follow him to take a stand against white supremacy and every kind of injustice.”

Thank God for emancipation and Juneteenth, thank God that so many have sacrificed so much for emancipation, and fighting against the injustices of the Jim Crow era and fighting for civil rights. But just as every Passion Sunday I am convicted as the crowd yells, “Crucify him!,” Juneteenth is a moment to consider how the Gospel message of justice and freedom is still needed in my own heart and in my own beloved country, and to seek new life in my commitment to Jesus by standing against injustice particular to my time and my place.

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.

In-Person Sunday Morning Worship Service, June 23, led by the The 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 5 minutes prior to the start of the service.

Click here for the service booklet for June 23.

HEARTFELT THANK YOU!

Ross Whitten and Sara Nimori would like to extend a heartfelt thanks for all your prayers for the two of them and Scout, as well as a big thanks for the gift of the deep freezer. It has helped greatly with their food storage needs! They can’t wait for Scout to meet everyone on a Sunday sometime soon.

CHILDREN’S UNDERWEAR AND SOCK DRIVE

We are needing donations of new socks and underwear for children to be placed in the baskets at church during the Offering the next couple of Sundays. These items will be given to children in need in our community. Thank you in advance!

FAREWELL

We have been blessed by the beautiful sacred music that our Music Director/Organist Will Pearson has provided St. Andrew’s since November. Will will be leaving Greencastle for a new position at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia and his last Sunday will be this Sunday, June 23. We are so sorry to say good-bye, and will miss Will’s organ music, singing, and choir direction. We will have a special farewell for Will at Coffee Hour that Sunday, and will offer our thanks and best wishes. Please join us!

CONGRATULATIONS TO DR. WARREN MACY!

Dr. Macy has been awarded the 2024 Indiana Rural Hospital Association Doc Hollywood Award. He has served Putnam County for 50 years. Doc Hollywood takes its name from a popular film where an inspiring urban surgeon discovers the rewards of practicing in a rural setting. The annual IRHA “Doc Hollywood” recipient is chosen by a group of independent medical professionals who review nominations from across Indiana. Congrats to Dr. Macy on this well deserved honor!

CHARITY CRAFT – TURN T-SHIRTS INTO JUMP ROPES

On Sunday, June 30, and Sunday, July 28 at 11:30, help craft jump ropes for Operation Christmas Child. This is a ministry that sends shoeboxes full of gifts to children living in impoverished countries. Locally, New Life Baptist Church in Greencastle packed over 1,000 shoeboxes last year and hopes to do the same this year. We are going to assist by doing a t-shirt-to-jump-ropes craft after the services on both June 30 and July 28. Come join us immediately after the service for this fun and easy craft. No experience is necessary and all supplies will be provided.

NEWSNOTE ARTICLES NEEDED!

We are down to our last couple of parishioner penned News Notes. If you’d like to write a short reflection, poem, or what have you, to be included in the Wednesday electronic newsletter, please let Renee know. The parishioner written articles are published on the 4th Wednesday of each month.

AUGUST 4 INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS GAME

The Wabash Neighborhood is having an outing at the Indians baseball game on Sunday, August 4 at 1:35 p.m. The cost per ticket is $15 and kids eat free that day! Please get your money and reservations to Renee by July 14 so she can get all to St. Mark’s by July 21.

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!

TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY

Most weeks, the Tuesday Bible and Book group meet at 4:30 p.m. On June 25 we will continue reading the book “Celtic Christian Spirituality: Essential Writings-Annotated and Explained” published by Skylight Illuminations. This group will take a break during the month of July.

THIS WEEK’S SHOPPING LIST FOR NON-FOOD PANTRY

Please add Adult Depends Sizes Large & XL, 4 and 5 year old Children’s Pull-Ups, and boxes of Laundry Sheets to your shopping list for the NFP for the month of June. The laundry sheets are more popular and desirable especially for the older folk as they are much easier to handle than the bottles of liquid. 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 this Saturday, June 29 from noon – 2:00 p.m.

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 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: