A Message from our Rector
Practicing Forgiveness
I am still sifting through thoughts about the challenges and fruits of practicing forgiveness, so important and so fraught. Through Jesus’ life and teachings we see over and over that forgiveness is at the heart; we know that the act of forgiveness can be very costly to the one who forgives. Wherever I turn, I hear people telling me that forgiveness is work, often the work of life.
I wanted to offer two more powerful portraits of practicing forgiveness. Each is particular to the individual telling the story and does not provide a specific road map for my own efforts. But each is an inspiration to me—and I hope to you—to be turned toward knowing our sins so that we can repent, and finding a way through sins committed against us so that we may be free from emotions of hatred, violence, and revenge that can also destroy us.
Jen+
P.S. if you did not join us for Martin Doblmeier’s “The Power of Forgiveness” Tuesday September 15th, you can watch it here. It is well worth your $2.99 and 75 minutes of your time.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thepowerofforgiveness
Story 1: Struggle With Forgiveness—A Cambodian Christian Reflects
Kristofer Phan Coffman
https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/forgiveness-the-hardest-commandment
Dear Working Preacher,
Why is forgiveness so difficult? Is there a harder commandment than the commandment to forgive? Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus reminds us that there are greater commandments, of course. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:34-40). These two commandments are greatest in the sense that they summarize all of the others. Even though these two place a great demand on us, they have a tendency to become abstract. It’s sometimes hard to perceive what it means to love the Lord in the grind of everyday life.
Unforgiveness shows
On the other hand, the command to forgive our brothers and sister from the heart needs no explanation (Matthew 18:35). We show right away the grudges and the hurts that we hold against those who have wronged us. Whether it’s our tone or our body language, unforgiveness is hard to hide. This commandment has an especially sharp point because it’s directed toward those nearest to us. It is directed at the people that we work with everyday, the people in our homes. People who annoy us, wrong us, and generally drive us batty.
Why is forgiveness so difficult?
I am haunted by forgiveness, dear Working Preacher, by my own inability to forgive small slights and my own capacity to justify my indignation instead of asking for forgiveness. This has always been a problem for me, but I did not realize that I struggled with forgiveness until the pandemic. I can even name the day that I realized it: September 2, 2020. On that day, Kang Kek Iew, alias Comrade Duch, died. This may not have been a news item that resonated with you, but as a Cambodian, it hit home for me. As a member of the Khmer Rouge, Comrade Duch headed the notorious Tuol Sleng prison. By his own meticulous record keeping, he was responsible for the torture and deaths of over 15,000 people.
Along with several other prominent Khmer Rouge officials, the United Nations supervised tribunal convicted Kang Kek Iew convicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The trial and sentencing took place while I was in college. Though I followed along, it did not make much of an impact on me. It was only when he died, when I reread his testimony, that my life changed. You see, Kang Kek Iew differed from other Khmer Rouge leaders in two intimately connected ways. The first is that in 1996, while still a free man, Kang Kek Iew was baptized and became a Christian. The second is that he confessed to his crimes and asked for forgiveness. All of the other Khmer Rouge leaders who appeared before the tribunal refused to take any responsibility for their actions and denied that they committed any crimes.
A request for forgiveness
I don’t know if a week has gone by since where I have not thought of Kang Kek Iew, his confession and his request for forgiveness. The Khmer Rouge offered no forgiveness to those whom they saw as perpetrators of oppression, including many members of my family. But as a Cambodian and as a Christian, I know that Kang Kek Iew’s request for forgiveness is directed at me. So I ask Jesus, “Lord, how often should I forgive, as many as fifteen thousand times?” He stretches my ability to forgive to its limits. But at the same time, he puts me to shame. How is it that I am ashamed to ask my brothers and sisters in Christ to forgive the small wrongs that I have done when Kang Kek Iew had the courage to own and to ask for forgiveness for all the wrongs that he committed?
Dear Working Preacher, this commandment is so hard, who can bear it? But it is in salvation that forgiveness lives. It lives in the forgiveness that God extends to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s in the forgiveness that we then extend to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Take courage. Ask God and your brothers and sisters for forgiveness. Forgive each other and live in peace.
In Christ,
Kristofer
Story 2: Where Forgiveness Begins—Holding Each Other Accountable
From “The Woodlands: A Place to explore the way of Jesus” by Jake Owensby
A stream of anger ran steadily below the surface of my younger self. Occasionally I would lash out at perceived slights or insults. Mostly I just kept my guard up around others and struggled with resentment and loneliness. I’ve talked previously about my father’s abusiveness and the struggles my mom and I faced after we had fled.
Like many of us, I held those early childhood experiences and the dysfunction of my family of origin to blame for my inner turmoil. Eventually it dawned on me that blaming my father and my mother for my personal misery wasn’t getting me any closer to tranquility. So, forgiveness seemed to be my best option. Only, try as I might, I couldn’t do it.
One night I reluctantly attended an Episcopal healing service. Initially, I intended to remain a spectator. But with a seatmate’s gentle encouragement, I stood up and asked the priest and those around me for prayers.
The priest asked, “What do you want to pray for.”
I said simply, “I can’t forgive my parents.”
He replied, “Can you ask Jesus to forgive them?”
When I said yes, I was swept up into a mystical experience that I cannot adequately describe nearly four decades later. To paraphrase the 19th Century Revivalist Charles Finney, the Spirit washed over me in great waves of liquid love. I was left speechless and weak-kneed for a while.
Contrary to what you might expect, I did not suddenly experience a forgiving heart. Actually, I felt something more like this: “Wow! What the heck was that?” And I was left to pray and to study Scripture to discern the message I was sure I was meant to receive.
After months of reflection, the message came to me undramatically in a kind of calm aha moment. I heard it as this: “You’re forgiven.” That’s it. Just, “You’re forgiven.”
As you probably noticed, that’s not what I was asking for. I had prayed for God to help me to be able to forgive. And it took me another stretch of time in prayer and study and reflection to begin to get the point. I am somebody who has needed and will repeatedly need God’s forgiveness. Even though I may make progress, perfection will remain a heavenly aspiration.
To put that another way, I am somebody who has needed and will continue to be sustained by God’s mercy. When I forgive somebody else, I’m just sharing with them what God has already given me free of charge.
Jesus is not soft on sin. And he doesn’t expect his followers to be either. That’s because he understands that sin is more than rule breaking. Love is his supreme commandment. As Paul puts it, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10) Sin is the opposite of love. Love weaves the community together in bonds of mutual affection and braids the individual soul into the divine life. Sin is a way of being that erodes community and diminishes the soul.
And that’s why Jesus teaches us to hold sinners to account. He says, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.” (Matthew 18:15) But Jesus is not instructing perfect people to condescend to the flawed and the blemished. He’s urging us to think of forgiveness on analogy with what D. T. Niles said about evangelism. Instead of a well-fed person doling out bread to a beggar, it’s one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
No one in the Christian community is higher or lower than anyone else. We are radically equal in our need for God’s mercy and in the infinite love that God pours out upon us. None of us is to be exempt from accountability. And none of us possesses moral superiority. We need each other as we stumble along the way of Jesus.
The paradoxical demand that Jesus places upon us—strange in a world ready to condemn and to exclude—is that we hold one another accountable with love. Our aim is always restoration and reconciliation. But it’s crucial to understand that reconciliation requires hard and serious work by sinners: contrition and amendment of life.
Contrition is genuine remorse for actions that have caused harm to someone else. We’ve all heard lame non-apologies.
Mistakes were made.
I’m sorry you feel that way.
I hate that this happened.
All of these formulas evade responsibility. A genuine apology owns the harm we’ve done. It’s more like this: I have done wrong and by all rights you should spit in my eye. Please forgive me.
In addition to genuine remorse, mending a relationship requires sinners to change behavior. Thieves stop stealing. Liars tell the truth. Abusers respect boundaries. And crucially, sinners accept that relationships are not merely resumed but transformed. To paraphrase Lewis Smedes, just because you’re forgiven doesn’t mean you get your old job back.
The church is acting like the church when it takes Jesus at his word, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) Or, as the popular saying goes, the church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.
And now, to this week’s spiritual practice…
A Spiritual Practice: The Jesus Prayer
Sit in a quiet comfortable place. Close your eyes. Take a couple of minutes to let your body, heart, and mind settle. Repeat the Jesus prayer in rhythm with your breath:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Inhale: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God
Exhale: have mercy on me a sinner.
Breathe normally. Repeat this ten or twenty times or set a timer for five or ten minutes. Expect your mind to wander. That’s natural. When it does, gently come back to the practice.
You can carry this into your day. While you’re doing ordinary things like washing dishes, taking a walk, or waiting in line, let the prayer run in the background of your mind.
That’s it for this week friends. Until next time, be well and God bless.
Jake
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 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
In-Person Sunday Morning Service, September 20, led by 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 this service.
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Lake Eucharist
This Sunday–Lake Eucharist Sept 20
Our annual Lake Eucharist (and Awesome Potluck Brunch) on Raccoon Lake at the Jedeles’ lake house is scheduled for September 20th, rain date September 27. The service will begin as usual at 10.15, but hospitality will be more expansive than usual, both in terms of food offerings and entertainment. Bring your sunhat, folding chairs, and swimsuits!
The Jedele Lake house is located at 9531 East Keep Lane, Rockville, Indiana 47872.
There will be no Live Stream for this service.
Click here for the service booklet for September 20.
Non-Food Pantry Latest
Saturday, September 26
• Noon to 2:00 p.m.
There will be a distribution in Hamilton Hall and light lunches will be served. We are grateful for all those who have worked so hard to obtain supplies for the Non-Food Pantry.
Top 3 Needed Items
The Latest Updates
This Sunday–Lake Eucharist Sept 20
Our annual Lake Eucharist (and Awesome Potluck Brunch) on Raccoon Lake at the Jedeles’ lake house is scheduled for September 20th, rain date September 27. The service will be begin as usual at 10.15, but hospitality will be more expansive than usual, both in terms of food offerings and entertainment. Bring your sunhat, folding chairs, and swimsuits!
Confirmation Class
We are beginning a time of formation, conversation, and discernment as we prepare for Confirmation, Reception, Reaffirmation, or Baptism this Sunday. We will meet throughout September and October, with a rehearsal on November 1 and the celebration of Confirmation on November 8.
Following Sunday Service, 12:30ish – 2:00 pm (Excluding Lake Eurcharist Sunday, Sept. 20)
Gather upstairs in the Murray suite to begin!
Whether you have been part of the Episcopal Church for years, are new to the tradition, or are still figuring out what you believe and where God may be calling you, this is an opportunity to explore what it means to live into our baptismal identity and the Way of Jesus.
Our time together will be less about learning a list of facts and more about asking meaningful questions:
What is my faith story?
What do I believe?
What promises am I making?
How does my baptism shape the way I live?
Where might God be calling me?
Along the way, we’ll explore Episcopal worship and identity, the Baptismal Covenant, Episcopal history, polity, theology, prayer, Scripture, and Christian vocation.
The hope is that we will grow together as a community of faith, making space for honest questions, thoughtful conversation, and deeper discernment.
Linked below are two resources to help you think about whether this opportunity is right for you: one offers a quick guide to the different pathways of Confirmation, Reception, Reaffirmation, and Baptism, while the other gives an overview of our class sessions and what we’ll be exploring together.
https://standrewsgreencastle.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Confirmation-Class-Outline.pdf
https://standrewsgreencastle.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Confirmation-Reception-Reaffirmation-graphic.pdf
Wherever you are in your faith journey, you are welcome here. I’m looking forward to the questions we’ll ask, the stories we’ll share, and the ways we may discover God calling us more deeply into the life of Christ and the life of this community.
Everyday Experience is Divine Revelation: Learning to Pray
Tuesdays, 4.30 pm, September 15-October 14
For four Tuesdays at 4.30 beginning September 15 we will meet to discuss and practice the examen prayer as described in Sleeping with Bread Holding What Gives You Life by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn (Paulist Press, 1995). We will spend four sessions learn the prayer practice and putting it into action. Dennis, Sheila, and Matthew Linn show how a quiet five minute practice of assessing each day can become a powerful tool for discernment, connection with God, and guide us to living our calls faithfully. Jen+ will form groups at other times for those who request it.
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 until after summer***
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.
Godly Play Lessons
We are restarting our monthly Godly Play lessons for children of all ages. We are planning on lessons the final Sunday of the month with working around holidays towards the end of the year.
Godly Play is a Montessori-based spiritual formation method that teaches children the language of Christian faith through storytelling, wonder, and play. We tailor the lesson and message based on the children present any given Sunday. If time allows and it fits the lesson, we also often work on craft projects.
Godly Play lessons take place upstairs in the Murray Suite of Hamilton Hall during the first half of the service. The children start the service in Hamilton Hall and then will come into the service usually during the peace.
Here are the dates for the remainder of 2026
- September 27
- October 25
- November 22
- December 20
Your prayers are asked for:
Haile Bane, grandson of Joanne Haymaker
Beth Benedix, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
+Tom Breidenthal
Jennifer Clarke, friend of Patti Harmless
Cindy Crawley, cousin of Karen & Jim Mannon
Tom Kaiser, friend of Jen+ & Chris
Lynda, friend of Sarah Finlay-Black
Teresa Masten, friend of Karen & Jim Mannon
Trevor and Christy Moore, friend of Karen and Jim Mannon
Sally Motsch, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
Gordon Redden
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+
Donald Voermans, father of Nick Voermans
Edwina Vose, friend of Jen+
Catherine Waggoner, friend of Jen+
Dwight Ziegler, uncle of Stephanie Gurnon
For those who have died, and those who mourn:
Dr. Michael Griesing, brother of Narda Cotton
Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: St. Matthew’s, Indianapolis, Ms. Jennifer Albrecht, 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 Anglican Church of Australia
Birthdays: Kate Jedele, September 16; Harvey Cummings, September 17; Michael Knuth, September 18; Page Cotton, September 21
Anniversaries: Chris and Jennifer Oldstone-Moore, September 19
Special Events and Services
