Dear Friends,
Welcome home! As many members and friends of St. Andrew know, those words in bright letters hung above St. Andrew’s front entrance when COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, allowing our church to reopen. I still recall how great it was to see the worshiping community coming back to life, though social distancing, masking, and communion in the pews were still among the orders of the day. For many of you it was a deeply emotional as well as a spiritual experience to finally make it back to your church home.
Now, it’s time for your pastors to say it again. WELCOME HOME! Whether or not you ever saw that great big sign, we want these words to serve as your invitation and call to join us this fall for a season of reunion and renewal in your spiritual life and in our shared mission for Christ. Masking is still optional. Communion in the pew is still available. And there are still services where there’s room to spread out. So come, and receive the food of grace! Come, and enjoy the community of God’s people!
People in love don’t like long-distance relationships. But if it’s impossible for you to be at church in person, then know that we are sharing God’s love and message online every Sunday via livestream at 9:30 and 11:00 am. However, if you are able to come in person, please don’t let livestream replace what scripture calls “the habit of meeting together.
As we enter the fall season, you are invited to join your church family for a series of celebrations under the theme “Hope Happens Here” during which you’ll learn more about what really goes on in the ministry of St. Andrew and what scripture has to say about all of it. Common Ground is also coming back for its fall season.
Check out the details and register online at mystandrew.org for a variety of classes including a new session of “Faith Walk” for folks who want to know more about the Christian faith and what it means to “walk the walk” at St. Andrew. As you read these words, our Board of Directors will have just completed a summer retreat in which they began sorting through possibilities for new initiatives in our mission, which you’ll have the chance to hear about at a Members Meeting later this fall. These are just a few of the signs of our continued reunion and renewal.
I look forward to being with you in worship, study, service, and fellowship. Together with Pastor González and all the members of our team, I give thanks for the countless ways in which you continue to live with the realities of our world while pressing on with the mission of God’s church through your faithfulness and generosity of time and treasure.
God bless you this fall as we celebrate our life together, so that more and more people in the communities we serve will hear the voice of God saying to them “welcome home!”
The Lord be with you+
Love in Christ,
Pastor Mark