Announcements for January 30

• Annual Parish Meeting Reports
  Copies of the parish annual reports are available at the back of the church and in the west foyer. Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting. Thank you especially to outgoing vestry members, Donna Blackburn, Lynn Ruschhaupt, Tracie Moxley and Rob McManamy.
  
  
• St. John’s Knitters
  The St. John’s Knitters will be meeting next Monday, February 7, at 7:00 p.m. in the Guild Room. All are welcome: knitters, crocheters, or talkers!
  
  
• Guest Preacher February 6
  Lora Walsh, program director for the Julian Year, will preach at both services on Sunday, February 6. The Julian Year is a new initiative of Episcopal Charities and Community Services. It is a Chicago- based, one-year service program for young adults designed to help participants work for social justice, deepen spiritual awareness and discern vocation, develop leadership skills in the paradigm of servant leadership, and live a simple, sustainable lifestyle. Lora is a postulant for ordained ministry, and she studied at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.

Reflection for January 30

Faith is a terribly caustic substance, a burning acid. It puts to the test every element of my life and society; it spares nothing. It leads me ineluctably to question my certitudes, all my moralities, beliefs and policies. It forbids me to attach ultimate significance to any expression of human activity. It detaches and delivers me from money and the family, from my job and my knowledge. It’s the surest road to realizing that “the only thing I know is that I don’t know anything.” (Jacques Ellul, Living Faith: Belief and Doubts in a Perilous World, translated by Peter Heinneg)

Announcements for January 23

• Annual Parish Meeting This Sunday, January 23
  The annual meeting of the parish will follow the 10:00 a.m. service this Sunday, January 23. Brunch bunch will serve sandwiches before the meeting. No need to bring anything other than yourselves.
  
  
• Vestry Nominees
  Thank you to the following people who have agreed to run for election to the vestry: Senior Warden—Cyndie Knoll; Junior Warden—Frank So; Vestry—Anne Edwards, Bill Sole and Candice Barrera.
  
  
• A Day for Women: St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Homewood
  Facilitator Becky Potter will lead a retreat entitled “Being Present in the New Year.” Join the circle of women as they sing, eat, laugh, pray, listen, share stories and read the Word. Give yourself the gift of a day to explore what it means to live fully present to God, yourself, and others. February 19, 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.; cost, $15.00. Call the church office at St. Andrew UMC to register, 798-8904.
  
  
• Guest Preacher February 6
  Lora Walsh, program director for the Julian Year, will preach at both services on Sunday, February 6. The Julian Year is a new initiative of Episcopal Charities and Community Services. It is a Chicago- based, one-year service program for young adults designed to help participants work for social justice, deepen spiritual awareness and discern vocation, develop leadership skills in the paradigm of servant leadership, and live a simple, sustainable lifestyle. Lora is a postulant for ordained ministry, and she studied at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.

Reflection for January 23

For the Parish
Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 817)

Announcements for January 16

• Annual Parish Meeting January 23
  The annual meeting of the parish will follow the 10:00 a.m. service next Sunday, January 23. A summary of the treasurer’s report is available this Sunday. The full packet of annual reports will be available at the meeting.
  
  
• Christmas Gifts to Lawrence Hall
  A total of $1,130.00 was contributed by parishioners to the young people of Lawrence Hall for Christmas. Praise God for all who contributed and thanks to Iris Bestow and the Daughters of the King for coordinating the effort.
  
  
• Adult Class: God in America
  “For those who know that in America, religion matters, and for those who wish it didn’t matter so much, God in America is a sweeping history of how religious faith has shaped America...” The Living Faithfully adult education class is currently studying the recent PBS documentary, God in America. Everyone is welcome. The class meets at 9:00 a.m. in Classroom 4.
  
  
• Guest Preacher February 6
  Lora Walsh, program director for the Julian Year (Episcopal Service Corps), will preach at both services on Sunday, February 6. The Julian Year is a Chicago-based, one-year service program for young adults designed to help participants work for social justice, deepen spiritual awareness and discern vocation, develop leadership skills in the paradigm of servant leadership, and live a simple, sustainable lifestyle.

Reflection for January 16

Absolution App
Penance, an application released for the iPhone in early December, allows users to absolve one another's sins.... Online anonymity is most frequently associated with the cruelty of masked trolls, seduction by gender dissimulators, and financial scams. We forget too easily that online facelessness also facilitates the sacred possibilitites of the masked ritual, the voting booth, and the therapist's couch. From their first moments, online spaces have mingled the privacy of the truck stop bathroom wall and that of the confessional. Penance on the iPhone, whether or not it grows from its larval state, is a fascinatingly unabashed conjunction of the two (Religion Dispatches, cited at www.episcopalcafe.com).

Announcements for January 9

• Vestry Budget Meeting
  The vestry will meet in the Conference Room following the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, January 9.
  
  
• Children’s Sunday School Classes Resume this Sunday, January 9
  All children’s Sunday School classes are back in session this Sunday, beginning at 9:00 a.m. We look forward to seeing you.
  
  
• Adult Class: God in America
  “For those who know that in America, religion matters, and for those who wish it didn’t matter so much, God in America is a sweeping history of how religious faith has shaped America...” This Sunday, January 9, the Living Faithfully adult education class begins a study of the recent PBS documentary, God in America. Everyone is welcome. The class meets at 9:00 a.m. in Classroom 4.
  
  
• Faith in Films: Horse Whisperer on January 14
  Like John the Baptist, who recedes into a lesser role after bringing people to Jesus, the horse whisperer moves into the background as those who are healed go on to live their lives. The 1998 film features Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Scarlet Johansson and Sam Neill. Scripture readings for reflection on the theme of gentle healer: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; John 1:29-34. Come watch Horse Whisperer in the Guild Room, Friday, January 14, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Discussion follows.
  
  
• Annual Parish Meeting January 23
  The annual meeting of the parish will follow the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, January 23.

Reflection for January 9

The Arrival of the Magi at the Manger
And now we have found where [the star has led], what then? It is neither in seeking nor finding; the end of all, the cause of all is in the last words, adorare Eum, to worship Him. That is all in all, and without it all our seeing, coming, seeking and finding is to no purpose. --Lancelot Andrewes, from a sermon preached Christmas Day, 1622