Shining the Light Welcoming. Growing. Caring. All with Joyous Hearts. Announcements for May 20, 2020 THIS SUNDAY AT FROM OUR RECTOR: THE REV. DOROTA WRIGHT- ST. ANDREW'S PRUSKI May 24, 2020 Dear ones, Seventh Sunday of Easter It was hard not to see your beautiful faces this past Sunday because of a widespread Zoom outage. The company has not shared the reason for the outage but reported that all issues were resolved later that day. I apologize for the confusion and disappointment this caused. Moving forward, we will continue to use Zoom for our Wednesday compline and Sunday Morning Prayer. I do not expect the outage from last Sunday to be a regular occurrence, but if it is we will revisit this decision and inform the parish. Thank you all for your understanding. I am grateful to our staff and communications ministry team for their swift action that enabled you to see and hear from us on Sunday as you prayed on your own. Way to pivot! This past Sunday's issues made me ever more aware of how powerful it is when we come together for worship. As I shared in my sermon, you all are a bright spot for me each week. Click Here to Join Us Christ shines through you in the ways you care for and check in Virtually at 10:00am for on each other, lift up in prayer the needs of the church and Sunday Worship the world, join in song in heart and voice, and make love visible. Speaking of love made visible, you'll see in this issue of Shining READINGS FOR the Light an exciting update from our Sacred Spaces team. SUNDAY: Warren Duvall, Ted Edwards, Joan Lawrence, Dave Smith, and B&G consultants Richard Knight and Jim Williams, led by the indefatigable Warren Marton, are pleased to share with you First Reading: that the elevator installation is almost complete AND we have Acts 1:6-14 approved the plans for the undercroft and kitchen renovations, which are expected to be completed at the same Gospel: time as the elevator. Congratulations, Sacred Spaces team!! John 17:1-11 This is very exciting. I look forward to seeing many of you tonight for Compline for the eve of the Ascension, as we give thanks for God's lavish LECTORS FOR THIS blessings. SUNDAY: With love and gratitude for each of you, Rev. Dorota+ Mary Lynn Rynkiewicz Marcela Scott St. Andrew's Episcopal SACRED SPACES UPDATE: ELEVATOR AND Church UNDERCROFT/KITCHEN PROJECTS The Rev. Dorota The Elevator Wright-Pruski, Rector Project is rapidly nearing completion! Quick Links: Most of the elevator cab is St. Andrew's Website inside the shaft, and the permanent connection to St. Andrew's power system is scheduled for later this week. Other changes near the elevator are almost complete as well. For the following 2 to 3 weeks, inspections begin by an independent company and State of Virginia and Arlington County. Depending upon the results of the inspections, remaining activities of clean up, resolve punch list items and demobilize will likely be completed in June. Equally exciting was the Vestry approval last week to proceed now with the Undercroft/Kitchen Project - new floor, new ceiling tiles and LED lights, kitchen spruce up including refinished cabinets and new sinks, counter tops, etc. This work does not require construction permits, and the existing general contractor, CCSI, believes the enhancements can be completed on the same timescale as the elevator. The expected combined cost for the two projects is about $30,000 more than the funds that have been made available to date from all sources. The Capital Campaign continues :: through October of this year, and we encourage those pledge units who are working to fulfill their pledges to continue as able. Of course, non-pledged contributions are welcome as well. Hallway to Chapel Stairs leading to attic CAPITAL CAMPAIGN PROGRESS The elevator installation and undercroft and kitchen renovations will be completed in early June, and our final bill to our contractor will be due around the same time. For those who have not yet fulfilled their pledge to the Growing Seasons Capital Campaign, we invite you to consider fulfilling your pledge by the end of June. This will help us minimize the amount we will need to borrow as a bridge loan until the capital campaign concludes in the fall. Thank you to all those who have contributed to this project. We could not do any of this without your generosity and support! If you have not yet contributed to the capital campaign, it is not too late to join this effort! Checks can be made out to St. Andrew's with "Capital Campaign" in the memo line. AFAC FOOD DRIVE St. Andrew's is undertaking a parish- wide outreach activity to help support the local community during the pandemic. As you probably know, AFAC has been seeing increased need during these uncertain times while at the same time suffering a shortfall in donations from grocery stores. In addition, they recently had to cancel one of their biggest fundraisers for the year due to COVID-19. Since the church has a long history of supporting AFAC and yet might not be able to support them through the garden this year, we are starting a food collection effort that will provide parishioners with the opportunity to donate non-perishable food, or provide monetary donations if they are not comfortable food shopping. Food donations should be limited to items from AFAC's list (below) and can be dropped off inside the plastic bin outside the entrance to the church by the church office. Items acceptable for donation: *Low sodium preferred. *No glass please! * Canned Tuna & Chicken * Canned Soups * Canned Vegetables * Canned Tomatoes * Peanut Butter (in plastic jars) Monetary donations can be made via AFAC's website. If you are interested in driving the donations to AFAC for a contactless drop off, please contact Marcela Scott at [email protected]. Thank you for your support! PHASED REGATHERING On Sunday, May 24, our coffee hour conversation will focus on the diocesan phased regathering plan. The relevant documents that will inform our conversation include the regional phased plan set by the Bishops of Virginia, Washington, and Maryland, our Bishops' May 13 letter, and the diocesan video message regarding phased regathering. I will provide whatever updates are available and invite you to share your comments and concerns. You may send me your questions in advance of this gathering at [email protected]. Worship and coffee hour can be accessed via our usual worship link . PENTECOST IS MAY 31 Join us for the Feast of Pentecost on Sunday, May 31 at 10am! We will hold an intergenerational service that day, and we encourage everyone to wear red as a symbol of the Holy Spirit's presence with us. We will be joined at coffee hour by a special guest, Beth Cavey, who will invite you to join Education for Ministry, a Christian formation program focused on learning, theological reflection, fellowship and worship. This EfM overview provides more information about the program. A SERMON FOR ASCENSION DAY Bishop Goff has recorded for the diocese a sermon for The Feast of the Ascension, which is Thursday, May 21. On this day the Church celebrates Jesus' ascension to heaven forty days after his resurrection. Ten days later, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes, as promised, to guide the disciples as they continue Jesus' ministry. FAMILY MINISTRY Dear ones, Although we couldn't see each other this past Sunday, I felt the love of our Family Service and St Andrew's community. I knew we were all praying for each other, and that helped me feel connected. As you know, one of our lectionary readings from this past Sunday was from chapter 17 of the Acts of the Apostles. I really love how Paul, in Athens, uses the language of poets the Athenians would have known about, telling everyone 'we are God's offspring.' You've heard so many times 'we are children of God.' Now, more than ever, this message is a large portion of what sustains me in a spiritual sense. For us as a Family Service community, it lets us know that Jesus's message of transcendent love--love that is in every single part of everyone and everything in creation--is the same for young people as it is for grown-ups. God loves us all, completely, the same. Tomorrow is officially the feast day of Jesus's ascension, when he went up to Heaven to be with God his father. So, in celebration of that event AND in celebration of Paul's message to some of the earliest Christians, let's show Jesus how much we take to heart about his message of love! Let's show each other, in our homes, that we understand we're all children of God. Why don't we each make sure to say 'I love you' this week to our family members, at times when they or we need to be reminded of that? For example, when my mother asks (for perhaps the hundredth time!) whether I've read a certain book, I will make sure I say 'I love you.' When we do little things like this each day, they add up-- our family members will feel even more loved, and so will we. I believe that's part of living out Jesus's message, as Paul tells everyone in our story from last Sunday. This gives us possibilities for our weekly cooking project and craft project, too! For our cooking project why don't we find something 'unloved' in our fridge or pantry, and use family members' help to give it love and new life in something we can eat together? This can be a forgotten packet of raisins in the cupboard that we use in oatmeal with the last of some dusty cinnamon and eat together, or a wilted bit of broccoli that we roast up and cover in the juice of a forgotten lemon slice and some bits of cheese.