St. Andrew’s: A Michigan Perspective

I open the mail on Fridays and Saturdays, those days when Renee is not in the office. I absolutely loved what these visitors had to say about the culture and vibe that they experience here. See their letter below.

Dave Murray

Dear St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and Reverend Dr. Jennifer Oldstone-Moore:

We wanted to send a little note regarding our recent experience at your church. Our youngest daughter is a sophomore at DePauw University. This recent Easter we were able to attend the Easter service at your Church with our daughter. It was a wonderful experience.

We raised our children in a small church in Michigan and value all that a small church has to offer, and fully understand the challenges of keeping the small churches open. We are grateful and appreciative to all that contribute to make that happen everywhere.

We are new to the Episcopal Church. We enjoyed experiencing the traditions and felt a sense of connection with a rich history. It seems that all too often modern-day churches are quick to drop their traditions. We appreciate traditions. We also are grateful for the design of the church program we were provided, as we were able to follow along and benefitted from the explanation on the left side of each section.

We enjoyed the sermon and valued the message. My husband and I found ourselves referring back to it on numerous occasions over the following weeks. I cannot ever remember a time when a sermon stuck with us for so long.

Our church sadly went through a very difficult change. Following several years of effort, in the end we lost our church affiliation. This unfortunately happened prior to our youngest daughter’s Confirmation. We have discussed what Confirmation means, and the importance of asking the Lord into her heart independent of us as an emerging adult. You offered Communion as part of your Easter services. She was a little panicked at first. At our church all were not welcomed. You were not able to take part in Communion unless you had been Confirmed We were so thankful for the wonderful explanation of what to do, and the meaning behind it that was offered in your program. I also appreciated that my daughter was a little rattled by the new experience, as it indicated that she valued the importance of the experience. It was a beneficial learning experience that contributed to her understanding. We are grateful to have been able to share it with her.

Although we live over 5 hours away, we wanted to send our appreciation. We have included a small offering to contribute. Please, it is not necessary to respond to this letter or our offering. Know that you are appreciated, and we trust the gift will go to good use.

A STEWARDSHIP MESSAGE FROM A PARISHIONER:

There are so many things that I love about St. Andrew’s, but I think that the top of my list is how welcome I have felt here from the very beginning.

After watching a service or two online, I emailed the church office in the fall of 2021. I asked if it would be weird for me to attend there, as a complete newbie to the Episcopal Church. Renee in the church office emailed back on the very same day with, “You are more than welcome to attend … we’d love to have you!”

The first time I attended, I was welcomed in the parking lot by Karen and Jim, who walked into the building with me. Karen assured me that I could participate as much or as little as I felt comfortable doing, and let me know that I could sit in their pew if I wanted. Several others introduced themselves, with smiling eyes above their masks, during or after the service. I left after the service feeling that this was the kind of church community that I had been looking for. Over the next months and years, I have been fortunate to get to know many wonderful people here at St. Andrew’s.

That spirit of feeling welcomed into a community is a large part of what made me feel comfortable on that first Sunday (even though I didn’t really know how the whole kneeling thing worked), and it has kept me coming back. I am blessed to be a part of St. Andrew’s.

As I have heard Reverend Jen say more than once with a warm smile, “The Episcopal Church welcomes you.”

Renee Majors

A MESSAGE FROM THE RECTOR:

Practicing Forgiveness, Practicing Love

Why is there evil in the world? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why aren’t the good rewarded, and the evil punished?

The Book of Job, our Hebrew Bible reading last month, has continued to haunt me.

I have been thinking about the observation that suffering is built into the freedom that is part of creation. We are creatures with free will in a universe that is unfolding and changing and morphing, a universe in which change is the constant. It might be nice to think that “everything has a reason” instead of struggling with undeserved suffering, but the difference between these two responses is the difference between “driving” an automobile at Disneyland that is on a track that goes only one place and a pretend steering wheel versus having a real car, looking at a map of North America and heading out on the road for a road trip. The Disneyland car is safe but goes nowhere; the real car drives on real roads that contain risk—but you can go just about anywhere when you want, how you want. As much as I don’t want to suffer, I do want to make real choices about my life.

There is another gift of the effect of this wild freedom, a gift that demands much of us our whole life. Living in an imperfect and real world offers, or perhaps insists, that must learn to forgive, and learn to love if we are to thrive in the freedom and potential that life offers.

Rabbi Harold Kushner lived through the terrible illness and then death of his beloved son Aaron at age fourteen. He has struggled mightily with the question of the cause of suffering—and found that as he struggled with them, the questions that came into focus changed. His book “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People” closes with this:

Are you capable of forgiving and accepting in love a world which has disappointed you by not being perfect, a world in which there is so much unfairness and cruelty, disease, and crime, earthquakes, and accidents? Can you forgive its imperfections and love it because it is capable of containing great beauty and goodness, and because it is the only world we have?

Are you capable of forgiving and loving the people around you, even if they have hurt you and let you down by not being perfect? Can you forgive them and love them, because there aren’t any perfect people around, and because the penalty for not being able to love in perfect people is condemning one self to loneliness?

Are you capable of forgiving and loving God even when you have found out that He is not perfect, even when he has let you down and disappointed you by permitting, bad luck and sickness and cruelty in his world, and permitting some of those things to happen to you? Can you learn to love and forgive him despite his limitations as Job does, and as you once learned to forgive and love your parents, even though they were not as wise, or as strong, or as perfect as you needed them to be?

And if you can do these things, will you be able to recognize that the ability to forgive and the ability to love are the weapons God has given us to enable us to live fully, bravely, and meaningfully in this less–than–perfect world?

Learning and practicing love and forgiveness is the superpowers with which to live authentically, abundantly, meaningfully in this world…a lifelong challenge for every one of us.

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.

2025 PLEDGE DRIVE – WALK IN LOVE

Parishioner Pledge Drive packets for the upcoming year have been distributed. Please prayerfully consider and return by Sunday, December 1. Thanks in advance for your time, talent, and treasure!

SACRED POETRY GROUP

Our Sacred Poetry met on Wednesday, November 6 at 2:00 p.m. in Hamilton Hall. We are currently talking about the sacred poetry of John Donne. All are welcome!

TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY

The Book and Bible Group has begun again, meeting at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays with Evening Prayer celebrated at 4:00 p.m. We are currently reading Sara Miles book “Take This Bread”. Our next meeting is Tuesday, November 19.

BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, AND EXPLORATION OF CHRISTIAN FAITH

Our Confirmation classes are suspended for a few weeks while we find times for those who are interested. Please let Jen+ or Renee know! 

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 baby wipes, disinfectant wipes, and Adult Depends (any size) to your shopping list for the NFP for the month of November. 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, November 23 from noon – 2:00 p.m. NOTE: No need to donate more women’s personal hygiene items such as pads and tampons at this time as we are fully stocked on those items.

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: