Dear Brothers and Sisters of St. Andrew's,
This (Palm Sunday) we will have a special Family Meeting to follow up on our November Annual Meeting. We will meet in the church at 9am sharp. We will have only one service, at 10:00. Our 10:00 am service is streamed via our Facebook page, our YouTube channel and our website.
On Tuesdays during Lent I am hearing confessions from 5:30-6:15 in the church, with Evening Prayer to follow at 6:30.
Our Holy Week services will be as follows:
Palm Sunday (March 24): One Service at 10:00.
Maundy Thursday (March 28): With St. Alban's, Glen Burnie, 7:00 pm at St. Alban's (105 1st Ave. SW, Glen Burnie, MD 21061).
Good Friday (March 29): 5:30 pm; guest preacher the Rev. Ben Umberger of Emmanuel Lutheran in Pasadena.
Easter Vigil (March 30): With St. Alban's, Glen Burnie, 7:30 pm at St. Andrew's (incense will be used). Festive reception to follow.
Easter Sunday (March 31): One Service at 10:00.
Our Adult Bible Study is taking a long look at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) with the help of Dallas Willard's book The Divine Conspiracy. This Sunday the 24th we will read the first half of Chapter 9.
Please continue to send cards and make visits to our former Rector the Rt. Rev. Carl Wright at The View Alexandria, 5000 Fairbanks Ave., Alexandria, VA 22311. Thanks to the good work of our former Junior Warden Rich Crothers, several of his keepsakes are hanging around his new apartment and he's very happy about that.
On the third Sunday of each month we take up a special offering to address needs in our community. Our February Healing Sunday offering of $255 went to support Winter Relief at St. Andrew's. Our March Healing Sunday offering will support the Emmanuel Lutheran Food Pantry, as will the $920 raised at the Corned Beef Dinner on Sunday. Thanks again to John Dunker and Dan Prince for their good work in the kitchen, and to Mark Cox for leading the music.
The Rector's Discretionary Fund enables me to work on the church's behalf to care for those in need in our community, and to support the needs of worthy ministries, as I am made aware of these needs. I am always glad to receive gifts to this fund (either electronically or by checks made out to St. Andrew's with Rector's Discretionary Fund on the memo line). If you are facing job loss or a reduction in your family's income please don't hesitate to reach out to me personally.
Cuthbert was in the wild hill country between Hexham and Carlisle. When they heard he had arrived, the people from the outlying farms and homesteads gathered. There was no church in the area, not even a hut for the shelter of the bishop and his companion, so everyone made a shelter in the forest as best they could. Cuthbert remained there for two days, preaching and confirming the newly baptized. Suddenly a group of women appeared on the edge of the forest, carrying a young man who was wasting away with a grievous illness. Placing the youth down, they came to the bishop and asked that they might bring him to be blessed. Cuthbert agreed. When the youth was brought to him and Cuthbert saw his terrible affliction, he asked them all to move away. He began to pray, and after a period of deep silence he turned to look at the youth and gave him his blessing. The young man began to recover immediately; in the same hour he received food and was strengthened and gave thanks to God. He walked over to his friends who had been carrying him and they all returned to their homes.
--David Adam, Aidan, Bede, Cuthbert: Three Inspirational Saints (London, SPCK, 2006). Cuthbert (d. 687), Bishop and Monastic, is commemorated on March 20.
The Rev. Jason A. Poling, D.Min.
Rector
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
7859 Tick Neck Road
Pasadena, MD 21122
410-255-1070 (o)
410-241-4838 (m)