A Message from a Parishioner:
I’ve been thinking about Judas and Christian Nationalists a great deal lately. I am reminded of a time some forty years ago when I was traveling in the upper deck of a bus on Princes Street during rush hour in Edinburgh. The traffic was stop and go with folks wanting to get home at the end of the business day. Two rows in front of me sat an older woman and an older child talking about what they planned to do after getting back. Suddenly, after going through a red light, the child says in an American voice, “Grammy! I just don’t understand! We stop when we should go, we go when we should stop, and we’re on the wrong side of the road!” I couldn’t hear the Scottish grandmother’s reply, but it was answered by another, “I just don’t understand!”
That child’s attitude pretty well sums me up these days. As I look at the events going on around me and in my own life I often say to myself, “I just don’t understand!”. It’s difficult for me to think I will ever understand what is happening, but I’m also reminded I don’t have to understand. I have to trust. I have to stay true to the Revelation given to me and go on working while I wait.
I know a man who didn’t understand, and couldn’t wait. His name was Judas Iscariot. I think he loved Jesus with every fiber of his being. And just like the Christian Nationalists of today, and those who wish to see the Second Coming, Judas the Zealot thought he could push Jesus into revealing the power of God to remove the heathen armies and reclaim the glory of the past, not realizing the Kingdom of Heaven had come in the man he followed and called rabbi.
I cannot imagine what Judas went through when his careful machinations exploded in his face. Not only had he failed to bring about the Kingdom of God, he had to watch as the man he loved was tortured and killed on a cross. He was undone, and in his anger and confusion he walked away from all of it and killed himself. Judas still didn’t understand!
Perhaps if only Judas had waited, he could have known the forgiveness Peter felt after attacking a guard in the garden, or what Paul experienced on the road to Emmaus. Or, the acceptance and forgiveness we experience when we have turned away from our own selfish misunderstandings of the Kingdom of Heaven.
I will continue waiting.
“…The angels keep their ancient places–
Turn but a stone and start a wing!
‘Tis ye, ’tis your estranged faces
That miss the many-splendored thing.
But (when so sad thous canst not sadder)
Cry–and upon they so sore loss
Shall shine the traffic of Jacob’s ladder
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.
Yea, in the night my Soul, my daughter,
Cry–clinging to Heaven by the hems;
And lo, Christ walking on the water,
Not of Gennesaret, but Thames!” –Francis Thompson
Fred Vallowe
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. Rev. Jen will be away June 23 – June 28.
The Seventh Sunday of Easter Sunday
In-Person Sunday Morning Worship Service, June 1, led by The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Oldstone-Moore, 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 June 1.
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The Latest Updates
GETTING AHEAD MEALS NEEDED
Gobin Church’s Getting Ahead Program needs our help! They are asking for individuals or teams to step up to prepare a meal for about 15 people on August 14, 21, and 28. If you can provide a meal or a part of a meal, please let Jen+ or Renee know.
NON-FOOD PANTRY MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES
Week of May 26, volunteer needed to pick up the NFP offering from St. Paul’s. The parish office will be closed that Monday and regular office hours are for mornings only. Please contact Harriet or Fred if you can help.
Thursday, May 29, volunteers needed for the monthly Kroger pick-up. A truck and driver, plus 3 volunteers are needed from 4-5 p.m.
Saturday, May 31, 3 volunteers are needed to assist with NFP distributions from Advent House from 11:45 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
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, June 3.
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!
THIS WEEK’S 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 May. 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, May 31 from noon – 2:00 p.m. We need several helpers this month with transporting and shelving items before the NFP, and on Saturday for the distribution. 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.
Prayers and Reflections for This Week
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.
Non-Food Pantry Latest
Saturday, May 31
• 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
The family of Bob Breese
Jennifer Clarke, friend of Patti Harmless
Katie Gleichman, relative of Jim & Cathryn Ensley
Carole Greenawald
Gwen, sister of Connie Macy
Josh
Tom Kaiser, friend of Jen+ & Chris
Hansford Mann, friend of Joanne Haymaker
Teresa Masten, friend of Karen & Jim Mannon
Sally Motsch, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
Mary Mountz
Jeri Mucia, friend of Joanne Haymaker
The family of Sharon Muir, relative of Joanne Haymaker
Tom Mullen, father of Patti Harmless
Elizabeth & Natalie Sheffler, daughter & granddaughter of Page & Narda Cotton
Skip Sutton
Larry Taylor, former member of St. Andrew’s
Dwight Ziegler, uncle of Stephanie Gurnon
Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: St. John’s Church, Mt. Vernon: The Rev. Allen Rutherford.
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 Anglican Church of Korea.
Birthdays: Brian Cox, June 2; Joanne Haymaker, June 5.
Anniversaries: None.
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